Brussels, 16 January 2026 – A leaked draft of the European Council’s updated Tobacco Excise Directive (TED), reported by Vyčištění vzduchu, shows that tax rates on vaping products, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco are slightly lower than in last summer’s plan presented by the European Commission, but that the overall message remains unchanged. The EU still wants to treat less harmful alternatives almost like cigarettes and puts revenue before public health.

Michael Landl, ředitel Světové aliance vaperů, uvedl:

“They made a tiny step back on the numbers, but the direction is still completely wrong. Nicotine users are treated as cash machines. Slightly lower rates do not change the fact that this plan will keep people smoking and punish those who try to quit with less harmful alternatives.”

Most shocking is the Council’s own admission in the draft: “This approach also aims to discourage tax induced substitution between products.”

“This means Brussels explicitly wants to stop smokers switching to vaping, pouches or heated tobacco. The Council’s draft says smokers should keep smoking cigarettes even if they can’t quit. This is the opposite of harm reduction. The goal of taxation must be to drive people to less harmful options, not block them,” dodal Landl.

Under the updated draft, taxes on e-liquids, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco would still remove much of the price difference compared to cigarettes, even if some figures are lower than in earlier versions. That means switching becomes less attractive, especially for people with lower incomes who are most affected by smoking and need affordable alternatives the most.

The World Vapers’ Alliance calls on EU member states to reject the current draft and demand a real harm reduction strategy in taxation. That means much lower or no excise on vaping products, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco compared to cigarettes, so that smokers have a strong financial reason to switch.