Risk-Based Regulation Should Guide the EU Tobacco Review
Brussels, 27 May 2026 – The European Commission has opened a public consultation on the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive and the Tobacco Advertising Directive, with feedback accepted until 14 August 2026. The review is expected to shape the next phase of EU tobacco policy in the second part of the year, following the Commission’s own assessment that existing rules have helped reduce smoking across the bloc.
That review must not become an exercise in treating all nicotine products as interchangeable.
The 2014 Tobacco Products Directive was written before the rapid rise of nicotine pouches, disposable vapes, and next-generation heated tobacco products. Consequently, these products now sit in a fragmented regulatory patchwork across member states. The Consumer Choice Center supports a harmonized EU framework. However, it must be built on risk differentiation, not on the false assumption that all nicotine products carry the same level of harm.
“Brussels needs to update the regulations to reflect today’s market, not the assumptions of the past,” said Zoltán Kész, Government Affairs Manager at Consumer Choice Center. “A sensible framework would differentiate between combustible cigarettes and products that significantly reduce exposure to harmful substances. If the EU wants better public health outcomes, it should regulate according to risk, not squeeze every product into the same category.”
The Commission is right to acknowledge that the current framework is to be reviewed. It is also appropriate to examine how product labeling, ingredients, cross-border advertising, and market fragmentation are addressed across the Member States. But the next directive must avoid repeating the central mistake of too many tobacco debates: punishing lower-risk alternatives instead of making them part of the solution.
If the EU is serious about reducing smoking, it should not undermine the products that help adult smokers move away from cigarettes. Regulation should be proportionate, evidence-based, and aligned with the public health goal it claims to pursue.
Consumer Choice Center will submit its response to the consultation and urges policymakers to take the same approach: update the rules while keeping the science, consumer choice, and harm reduction at the center of the process.