Today the EU published the results to it’s consultation on applying excise duties to ‘manufactured tobacco’, including e-cigarettes. The results of the consultation were decisive. Of the 7500 respondents, when asked if electronic cigarettes and refill containers should be subject to excise duties, nearly 90% said no.
We hope that the Commission will take the clear results of this consultation into account and discard the idea of adding excise duties to vaping products.
The EU should embrace vaping products as a seismic public health opportunity. Given the public health consensus on the relative safety of vaping products in comparison with combustible tobacco products, the EU should be striving to support smokers who wish to make a switch to vaping products. Vaping products’ comparatively low cost in relation to combustible tobacco products is a major part of their attractiveness to current smokers. An excise regime would hamper this and would make vaping a less attractive alternative.
The EU need to recognise that by adding excise duty, they would simply deterring current smokers from making the switch, and would risk further clouding public understanding of the relative risks of smoking and vaping.
Thank you to everyone who responded.