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For a Tobacco-Free Future

For a Tobacco-Free Future

To the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union

Petition

We call on the European Union to urgently revise and strengthen its tobacco control legislation in light of the rising use of novel nicotine products, particularly among young people.

Specifically, we urge the EU to update the following directives:

  • The Tobacco Taxation Directive (2011)
  • The Tobacco Products Directive (2014)
  • The Tobacco Advertising Directive (2003)


These revisions should aim to:

  1. Increase excise taxes on all tobacco and nicotine-containing products to effectively discourage consumption.

  2. Broaden the scope of regulation to explicitly include emerging products such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches. Clear and comprehensive definitions must be established to close existing regulatory loopholes.

  3. Modernize advertising restrictions by expanding the Tobacco Advertising Directive to cover all media channels—especially online platforms and digital marketing—and include indirect advertising methods, such as corporate social responsibility sponsorships.


By updating these outdated directives, the EU can better protect public health and achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2040, as set out in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

Why is this important?

Across Europe, a new generation is getting hooked — not on cigarettes, but on nicotine pouches, vapes, and other addictive products flooding the market. [1]

While teens face serious risks to brain development and lifelong addiction [2], Big Tobacco is pushing hard for EU laws to remain dangerously out of date. [3]

The EU has pledged a tobacco-free generation by 2040. [4] But a minority of tobacco-producing countries are stalling progress.

Since March, the majority of EU states — backed by over 120 organisations — have called on the European Commission to finally update tobacco laws and tax vapes and nicotine pouches across the EU. [5]  A key Commissioner said a new tax proposal could come by summer. [6]

It’s now June. Still no action. 

Big Tobacco is doing everything it can to keep laws weak and profits high — but no politician wants to be seen as putting the profits of a cancerous industry before the health of our teens.

We need a surge of public pressure to cut through the influence of the toxic tobacco lobby. Add your name now and tell the EU to stand up to Big Tobacco, tax addictive nicotine products, and protect young people across Europe.

Together, we can force our leaders to choose a tobacco-free future over industry profits.

References:

  1. https://www.euda.europa.eu/publications/data-factsheets/espad-2024-key-findings_en
  2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667009724000587
  3. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/shadow-vape-lobbying-brussels-follow-the-money-eu-19uwe/  
    https://www.thegoodlobby.eu/europes-far-right-opens-to-tobacco-lobbyists/ 
    https://theconversation.com/how-big-tobacco-firms-are-using-e-cigarettes-to-try-to-improve-their-image-199131 
  4. https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/promoting-our-european-way-life/european-health-union/cancer-plan-europe_en
  5. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/03/25/health-ministers-urge-the-european-commission-to-boost-anti-tobacco-action
  6. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/06/02/eu-commission-faces-rising-pressure-to-tax-vapes-and-nicotine-pouches