Netherlands: A national tax on vaping in preparation

The Dutch government is preparing a bill to introduce an excise tax on vaping products, effective January 1, 2029, led by State Secretary for Finance Eelco Eerenberg. The objective is to make vaping roughly as expensive as smoking tobacco, thereby discouraging young people from starting. This national initiative responds to the deadlock within the Council of the European Union regarding the revision of the Tobacco Products Tax Directive, which aims to extend minimum taxation to vaping products. The government has pledged to withdraw its proposal as soon as a European regulation is adopted, but acknowledges that a national tax could be partially circumvented through cross-border and online purchases.

The proposal targets e-cigarettes and e-liquid refills. The tax rate has not yet been set but is intended to align the cost of vaping with that of smoking tobacco. The bill is expected to be introduced in the Dutch House of Representatives in early 2027. Vaping has become widespread among young Dutch people: according to the Trimbos Institute, 10.3% of 12- to 25-year-olds used an e-cigarette at least once a month in 2023, and 13.3% of 15- to 17-year-olds. Among these regular young vapers, 69.1% also smoked cigarettes every month. Among adults, regular use affected 2.4% of the population in 2025, but 8.1% of 18-24 year olds.

The tax would complement already strict regulations. The Netherlands has banned flavored e-liquids other than tobacco since January 1, 2024, yet in 2025, 85% of 12- to 25-year-olds reported vaping flavored products every month. At the European level, on 16 July 2025, the European Commission presented its proposal to revise the Tobacco Products Tax Directive, whose minimum rates had not been updated since 2010. The Commission notes that price differences between Member States, ranging from €2.57 to €11.37 for a pack of cigarettes, encourage cross-border shopping. The Commission's text plans to extend taxation with a minimum levy to electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches. The Netherlands supports this revision; in December 2024, they were among the sixteen member states that signed a declaration in favor of extending the directive to vaping products. However, since taxation requires unanimous agreement within the Council, the matter was removed from the agenda of the Ecofin Council meeting of June 12, 2026, due to a lack of agreement, and no new timetable has been set.

Vaping industry stakeholders argue that the tax would drive consumers to unregulated markets. This argument, long used by the tobacco industry against taxation, was previously raised by the trade association Esigbond with Dutch policymakers when they adopted the ban on flavored e-liquids. The existence of illegal products led the Dutch consumer protection agency (NVWA) to seize 189,000 flavored vaping products in June 2026. The World Health Organization explicitly recommends taxing vaping products and banning flavors.

(Source：Génération sans tabac)