{"id":3503,"date":"2025-05-23T06:18:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T06:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consideratepouchers.org\/?p=3503"},"modified":"2025-05-23T06:19:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T06:19:01","slug":"spain-tries-to-ban-pouches-and-the-eu-isnt-having-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consideratepouchers.org\/uk\/spain-tries-to-ban-pouches-and-the-eu-isnt-having-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain Tries to Ban Pouches \u2014 And the EU Isn\u2019t Having It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain\u2019s Ministry of Health, led by M\u00f3nica Garc\u00eda, has quietly launched one of the most extreme anti-nicotine measures in Europe \u2014 and now other EU countries are fighting back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new draft Royal Decree, currently under EU notification (TRIS 2025\/0044\/ES), proposes<\/a> two key things: a total ban on all nicotine pouch flavours<\/strong> and a nicotine cap of 0.99mg per pouch<\/strong> \u2014 one of the lowest in Europe. It\u2019s a move that would effectively wipe these products off the Spanish market overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be clear: this isn\u2019t regulation. It\u2019s a ban in disguise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the rest of Europe sees it for what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Governments across the EU are now lining up to reject Spain\u2019s proposal. Romania, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Sweden, and Czechia have all<\/a> issued formal objections to Brussels, arguing that this policy violates the core principles of the EU itself<\/strong> \u2014 especially the free movement of goods under Article 34 of the TFEU<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romania put it<\/a> plainly: \u201cImposing a threshold as low as 0.99mg is an indirect prohibition.\u201d They called out the lack of public health evidence, the disregard for less restrictive options, and the complete absence of a proper transitional period for manufacturers. They even warned that this decree could increase illegal trade, reduce tax revenue, and \u2014 wait for it \u2014 harm public health<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? Because when governments ban the safer option, they push people back to the dangerous one: cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00f3nica Garc\u00eda\u2019s team claims this is all about \u201cmodernizing regulation.\u201d But the reality is much simpler: they\u2019re cracking down on nicotine pouches precisely because they\u2019re working. These products don\u2019t burn, don\u2019t smell, and don\u2019t bother anyone. They\u2019re clean, discreet, and for many people \u2014 including myself and my grandmother \u2014 they work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that, apparently, is unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s even more outrageous is that Spain is trying to go beyond what EU law even allows. The TPD (Tobacco Products Directive) doesn\u2019t cover nicotine-free vapes, pouches, or herbal products \u2014 but this decree does. It imposes tobacco-style warning labels, packaging restrictions, and flavour bans on products that aren\u2019t even legally defined as tobacco. Spain is not only regulating in a legal vacuum \u2014 it\u2019s trying to fill it with prohibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they\u2019re doing it without data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) already blasted<\/a> the Ministry for pushing this proposal without any serious evidence. No public health justification. No impact assessment. No analysis of what this will do to consumers who rely on pouches to stay off cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU\u2019s own transparency system now shows exactly how isolated Spain is. Most EU countries \u2014 including Sweden, the only nation approaching<\/a> a smoke-free status \u2014 allow<\/a> pouches with up to 20mg of nicotine per pouch. Spain wants to slash that by 95%. Why? No one knows. Because no one at the Ministry seems willing to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t about health. It\u2019s about image. It\u2019s about looking \u201ctough\u201d on nicotine \u2014 even if that means driving people back to smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Considerate Pouchers, we believe in regulation that actually helps people quit. We believe in giving consumers real options. And we believe that if governments want fewer smokers, they should stop banning the things that help people quit smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because this isn\u2019t a public health strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s prohibition with a press release.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spain\u2019s Ministry of Health, led by M\u00f3nica Garc\u00eda, has quietly launched one of the most extreme anti-nicotine measures in Europe \u2014 and now other EU countries are fighting back. The new draft Royal Decree, currently under EU notification (TRIS 2025\/0044\/ES), proposes two key things: a total ban on all nicotine pouch flavours and a nicotine […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nSpain Tries to Ban Pouches \u2014 And the EU Isn\u2019t Having It - Considerate Pouchers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Spain\u2019s Ministry of Health, led by M\u00f3nica Garc\u00eda, has quietly launched one of the most extreme anti-nicotine measures in Europe.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/consideratepouchers.org\/uk\/spain-tries-to-ban-pouches-and-the-eu-isnt-having-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spain Tries to Ban Pouches \u2014 And the EU Isn\u2019t Having It - 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