E-cigarettes Are Classified As Smoking Products: France Initiates The Strictest Regulatory Era in Europe

In the autumn of 2025, the French fiscal bill became the focus of the global e-cigarette industry.
In the "2026 Fiscal Bill", the French government officially proposed: to impose a volume tax on e-cigarettes, completely ban online sales, and redefine e-cigarettes as "smoking products".
This means that e-cigarettes are no longer an auxiliary aid or innovative alternative for quitting smoking, but are legally classified under the same regulatory system as cigarettes.
A regulatory shift disguised as "fiscal" and implemented as "control" is quietly unfolding in Europe.
1 From a health tool to a fiscal commodity In the official documents of France, the Ministry of Finance first mentioned e-cigarettes under the name of "smoking products" (Produits du tabac à fumer).
This change in wording is sufficient to reshape the fate of the entire industry.
Over the past decade, the existence logic of e-cigarettes in Europe was "reducing harm":
To allow smokers to replace traditional tobacco with a lower risk.
But the French Ministry of Finance clearly no longer agrees with this "replacement" logic.
In their view, e-cigarettes are not a health tool, but a consumer product that should be included in the tax system.
Thus, the Ministry of Finance took over the discourse - e-cigarettes were transferred from the Health Ministry to the fiscal management department, from a "health management issue" to a "fiscal and order issue".
2 Taxes, Prohibition and Re-definition: Triple Strike The "2026 Fiscal Bill" of France specifically stipulates: for nicotine concentration ≤ 15mg/mL, tax is €0.03/mL; for nicotine concentration > 15mg/mL, tax is €0.05/mL. Converted, the price of a 10mL e-liquid bottle will increase by approximately €0.50 (about 4 RMB). But taxation is only the first threshold.
The more damaging thing is - online sales are completely prohibited.
This regulation almost destroyed one-third of the e-cigarette retail channels in France overnight.
Those small brands and small store owners who relied on e-commerce, communities and distribution systems for survival,
will lose their market channels after the policy takes effect. And offline stores are also included in the same licensing system as tobacco stores,
only authorized physical stores can legally sell.
This means that France will shift from an open vaping market to a "nicotine monopoly country" strictly controlled by the government.
The political logic behind this policy shift is not merely a tax reform. It is actually an important part of the French government's 2023–2027 National Tobacco Control Plan (PNLT). In official documents, this plan is named "Health Balance Policy (Équilibre de santé)", but from the perspective of implementation, it is more like a "total blockade operation" against nicotine products.
Looking at the timeline, we can see the path of this regulatory tightening: 2025: The French parliament passed a ban on disposable electronic cigarettes; April 2026: The sale of all non-medical oral nicotine products (including pocket cigarettes, lozenges, nicotine chewing gum) was prohibited; 2026: Electronic cigarettes were included in the definition of smoking products and subject to comprehensive taxation and restricted sales.
In other words, France has become the first country in Europe to restrict the three forms of nicotine consumption: "inhalation, ingestion, and chewing".
This is not by chance, but a political choice - the government hopes to redefine products and regain control of the "legitimate consumption order".
The essence of the fiscal battle: Redefining the boundaries of "legitimate consumption" Behind this fiscal bill lies a deeper logic: "Legal consumption must be taxable, traceable, and controllable."
During the early development of electronic cigarettes, it enjoyed an "innovation exemption period" - low prices, loose regulation, and fast circulation.
It was once regarded as the "hope of public health".

But as the user base expanded, the fiscal department found:
The tax revenue from traditional tobacco was being gradually eroded by electronic cigarettes.
So, the policy focus shifted from "helping smokers transition" to "preventing tax losses".
The health narrative still exists, but it has become the packaging of fiscal policy.
The fiscal logic has replaced the health logic.
The goal of the French Ministry of Finance is very clear: to incorporate electronic cigarettes into the existing tobacco taxation system; to return the sales rights to licensed stores; through defining to change the rules and bring everything back to a "controllable order".
The domino effect in Europe: France's actions will not be isolated.
At the EU level, 15 member states have pushed to revise the "Tobacco Tax Directive (2011)" to attempt to unify the tax system and regulatory standards for electronic cigarettes. The current trend is: national oil tax rates in Germany are €0.32/mL (2026), with a high tax rate; Spain has a moderate tax rate of €0.15–0.20/mL (2025), gradually increasing; Belgium covers non-nicotine liquids at €0.15/mL, Finland at €0.30/mL; Denmark was the first to implement volume tax in Europe, €0.20–0.34/mL, graded by concentration. From the data, France's tax rate is not the highest, but its comprehensive regulatory intensity has risen to the top in Europe.
Industry insiders generally believe that France's fiscal battle will become a template for unified regulation in the EU.
Next, Spain, Belgium, Italy, and other countries may follow the "fiscal + ban" dual-track model.
7 Conclusion: The focus of harm reduction is the starting point of fiscal policy France's 2026 fiscal bill reveals a harsh reality:
When an industry moves from innovation to maturity, it will be incorporated into the fiscal and political order.
Electronic cigarettes are no longer regarded as a "substitute for public health",
but a taxable, controllable, and restricted form of smoking. For the industry, this "fiscal battle" will bring a structural reshuffle: independent brands and online channels will be eliminated; tobacco giants will regain dominance by being compliant and resourceful; The "harm reduction" narrative is gradually giving way to "fiscal balance" and "social order".
This shift may change the nicotine industry in Europe and also redefine the meaning of "harm reduction" - when policy choices prioritize order over freedom, harm reduction is no longer the goal but merely a process.