Eight EU countries just asked Brussels to freeze the nicotine pouch market
The Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia and Spain want the Commission to block any new nicotine product from entering the EU — and to let governments ban pouches outright. It lands weeks before a Tobacco Products Directive revision.
Eight European governments — led by the Netherlands — have asked the European Commission to stop any new nicotine product from ever entering the EU market, in a letter sent to Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi on Tuesday.
What happened
The letter was signed by the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia and Spain. Their demand, quoting the letter: the Commission should "introduce a market freeze to make sure no new products containing any form of nicotine or a substance with nicotine-like properties, or any devices used to deliver such products, can enter the EU market in the future."
The letter also pushes for:
- Plain packaging for all tobacco products
- A right for national governments to ban nicotine pouches outright
- A ban on cross-border distance sales within the EU — that means online sales
- A requirement for social media platforms to proactively remove nicotine marketing and prevent it from being uploaded
The signatories accuse tobacco companies of "aggressive marketing and unfounded reduced-risk claims." The timing matters: the Commission is expected to propose a revision of the Tobacco Products Directive by the end of the year, and this letter is an opening shot in those negotiations.
Why it matters
A market freeze is a blunt instrument. Nothing already on the market — ZYN, VELO, the existing pouch landscape — would be pulled by this demand, but anything genuinely new would be locked out at EU level. For a category that depends on constant product launches, flavors and formats to grow, that is close to a ban on innovation in slow motion.
The distance-sales ban is the piece with the most direct consumer impact: it would end legal cross-border online purchases of pouches and snus within the EU, cutting off the main route for consumers in restrictive countries to buy products their own market doesn't stock. Sweden's position — where snus is a domestic staple — makes that demand politically contentious.
Not everyone in the Council agrees. An EU diplomat told Rapporteur that member states like Greece, Italy and Cyprus push a more moderate approach but currently lack the votes to block tighter restrictions in negotiations. And Lithuania, Greece and Italy — three moderate voices — hold the rotating presidency next, though their duty to broker neutrally limits what they can do with it.
What's next
The TPD revision proposal expected before the end of the year is the moment to watch. This letter tells you what the stricter bloc wants written into it: a market freeze, national pouch bans, plain packaging and a distance-sales ban. Whether Commissioner Várhelyi — who has himself called nicotine products as harmful as cigarettes — adopts any of it determines whether EU consumers keep their current options or watch the door close on anything new.
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