{"id":8523,"date":"2025-05-28T16:35:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/?p=8523"},"modified":"2025-05-28T16:35:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:35:24","slug":"sweden-blocks-frances-nicotine-pouch-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/en\/sweden-blocks-frances-nicotine-pouch-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden blocks France\u2019s nicotine pouch crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Sweden is once again pushing back against another EU country\u2019s efforts to ban nicotine pouches, this time taking aim at France. The move follows a similar action targeting Spain earlier this spring and signals a growing willingness from Stockholm to defend pouches on the European stage.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regeringen.se\/pressmeddelanden\/2025\/05\/regeringen-lamnar-ett-detaljerat-utlatande-pa-frankrikes-forslag-om-ett-totalforbud-mot-vitt-snus\/\">Swedish government announced on May 22nd<\/a> that it had filed a detailed opinion with the European Commission opposing France\u2019s proposed ban on nicotine pouches, a move Stockholm warns could violate EU trade law and harm public health efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Swedish government will not stand by and watch a key national industry be restricted. We are defending Swedish snusers and the EU\u2019s internal market,\u201d Benjamin Dousa, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regeringen.se\/pressmeddelanden\/2025\/05\/regeringen-lamnar-ett-detaljerat-utlatande-pa-frankrikes-forslag-om-ett-totalforbud-mot-vitt-snus\/\">in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>France\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.euractiv.com\/section\/health-consumers\/news\/france-bans-nicotine-pouches-as-eu-war-on-product-escalates\/\"> proposal<\/a> would prohibit the production, sale, and even possession of nicotine pouches across its territory \u2013 an unprecedented move that, according to Swedish authorities, threatens both trade and public health.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Legal and scientific shortcomings <\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The detailed opinion, drafted following <a href=\"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Kommerskollegium_Forslag-pa-reaktion-FR-DO.pdf\">recommendations<\/a> from the National Board of Trade (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kommerskollegium.se\/\">Kommerskollegium<\/a>), asserts that the French proposal lacks a solid scientific basis and violates the EU\u2019s internal market principles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its legal assessment, the National Board of Trade argues that:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>France has failed to demonstrate that nicotine pouches present a \u201cgenuine and significant public health risk\u201d;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The proposal is disproportionate, especially given that less restrictive measures like age limits and nicotine caps have proven effective elsewhere;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The ban violates the principle of mutual recognition, whereby products legally sold in one EU country should generally be permitted in others.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The board concludes that the French proposal constitutes a \u201cserious obstacle\u201d to the free movement of goods within the EU\u2019s internal market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Public health vs. protectionism?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Patrik Str\u00f6mer, Secretary General of the <a href=\"https:\/\/snustillverkarforeningen.se\/\">Association of Swedish Snus Manufacturers<\/a>, welcomes the government\u2019s action \u2013 but also raises deeper concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFrance\u2019s justification is built on outdated and selective data,\u201d he tells Snusforumet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTheir toxicology claims don\u2019t hold up to scrutiny, and in practice, this ban would protect cigarettes \u2013 the most harmful product \u2013 while eliminating safer alternatives.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He notes that France has one of the highest smoking rates in the EU, with 20 to 25 percent of the adult population still lighting up daily. By contrast, Sweden \u2013 thanks in large part to snus and nicotine pouches \u2013 boasts the lowest smoking rate in the EU at just over 5 percent.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s absurd,\u201d says Str\u00f6mer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBanning the very products that are helping reduce smoking is like throwing away the fire extinguisher while the house is still burning.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Repeating the Spain strategy<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>France is not the first EU country to feel Sweden\u2019s pushback. Earlier this year, the government submitted a similar detailed opinion against <a href=\"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/en\/spain-pouch-ban-proposal-sparks-swedish-wrath\/\">proposed nicotine restrictions in Spain<\/a> that would have banned all flavours and limited nicotine content to less than 1 mg per pouch, effectively removing nearly all products from the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, with the French case, Sweden is once again deploying the most powerful tool available under EU notification rules: the detailed opinion.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This forces a six-month standstill on the French legislation and obliges the government in Paris to respond to the objections raised.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The French proposal \u201crisk causing serious damage to free movement\u201d within the EU, the Swedish government wrote in announcing the ban.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What\u2019s next for nicotine policy in Europe?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This new clash is part of a broader EU debate as Brussels begins reviewing the <a href=\"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/en\/tag\/tpd\/\">Tobacco Products Directive (TPD)<\/a>. While traditional Swedish tobacco-based snus remains exempt under current EU rules, nicotine pouches do not enjoy the same protection, leaving them exposed to country-by-country bans.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Sweden is working to change that. Officials now see nicotine pouches as not just an export product, but as a pillar of public health success.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Str\u00f6mer agrees and urges Brussels to look north for inspiration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve shown that a regulated market for pouches and snus reduces smoking and saves lives. Instead of banning these products, the rest of Europe should be learning from Sweden,\u201d he says.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sweden is once again pushing back against another EU country\u2019s efforts to ban nicotine pouches, this time taking aim at France. The move follows a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[604,536,296,273,324,311],"class_list":["post-8523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulations","tag-benjamin-dousa","tag-france","tag-nicotine-2","tag-nicotine-pouches","tag-spain","tag-tpd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sweden blocks France\u2019s nicotine pouch crackdown - Snusforumet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sweden is again pushing back against a proposed nicotine pouch crackdown in the EU, taking aim at France&#039;s plan to ban nicotine pouches.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/en\/sweden-blocks-frances-nicotine-pouch-crackdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sweden blocks France\u2019s nicotine pouch crackdown - 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