Poland is working on a law that would completely ban the sale of vapes to minors. The regulation is expected to take effect in the second quarter of 2025. At the same time, the new proposal proposes a six-month transition period to allow old products to continue to circulate on the market.
Poland strengthens regulation of vapes
As reported by Prawo. pl on November 25. Poland is developing laws and regulations that strictly ban the sale of vapes to minors, but they are expected to come into force as early as the second quarter of 2025.
Although the Polish government rules prohibit the sale of vapes to people under the age of 18, the actual implementation is not good. The government of Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna is considering further amendments to the law to completely ban the sale of all types of vapes to minors.
Ban on underage sales delayed until 2025
The new proposal considers increasing the transition period for laws and regulations to come into force. For vapes or smoke bombs that do not meet the newly revised requirements (especially liquid containers that do not contain smoke tar), they can continue to circulate on the market for no more than six months after the new regulations come into effect. The move aims to introduce six months for amendments to the Tobacco Act to allow used goods (goods without warning labels) to remain on the market for a certain period.
Katarzyna Fortak-Karasinska, counsel for Karasinska, explained that old packaging products (goods without specific warnings) can only be banned from being placed on the market after the act has been in force for six months.
Another proposal is to allow the sale of containers that do not contain smoke tar liquid over 10 ml (usually 60 ml) so that users can add their smoke tar. The Ministry of Health believes that because of the inability to control the concentration of nicotine in liquids, customers can add smoke tar to liquids that do not contain smoke tar, which poses a significant health risk. Therefore, it is reasonable to limit the spare container capacity of non-smoky tar liquid.
The new proposal increases the effectiveness of laws and regulations. Originally assumed to be a three-month transition period, the bill would now take effect 14 days after publication in the Law Journal, but the six-month transition period was retained.
The law would require a report to the European Commission, which would take three months. However, this project can only be submitted after the approval of the Council of Ministers, which has not yet been allowed. Therefore, the Ministry of Health stressed that the bill should come into force in the second quarter of 2025.
