What Austria got right on pouches, and Spain is about to get wrong

Two EU countries. One question. How much nicotine should a pouch be allowed to contain?

Austria says up to 26.6 mg. Spain’s draft decree reportedly says 4.

Austria keeps pouches legal and regulates them. Since August, they’ve been covered by the country’s main tobacco law. Nobody under 18 can buy them, anywhere in Austria. There are no limits on flavours. But advertising will be banned from March 2028. And since April, pouches can only be sold in licensed tobacconists, where staff check ID at the counter.

Now look at Spain.

The Ministry of Health has been working on its decree since 2024. The first draft capped pouches at 0.99 mg. The latest version, dated 30 July, reportedly raises that to 4 mg and restricts flavours to little more than tobacco. That’s less than a sixth of what Austria allows. And products at 4 mg or less are only a small share of what adults in Spain buy today.

The Ministry wants it approved before the general election on 29 November. That’s 20 days away.

Here’s the thing. The nicotine cap decides whether the legal product works for adults at all. Adults who use pouches to stay off cigarettes pick a strength that works for them. Set the cap too low and they buy stronger pouches somewhere else, like in the black market for example.

Austria kept the legal product useful for adults, and put the protection where it belongs. At the counter.

Both countries want to protect people. Both have adults who use pouches instead of cigarettes. One chose an age limit, licensed shops and a cap adults can live with. The other is about to choose a cap so low that most of the legal market disappears.

So which one ends up with more pouches sold under the counter?