Benjamin Dousa, Swedish Minister of International Cooperation for Development and Foreign Trade, raised on Tuesday the tone against the French veto to the nicotine bags (the so -called White Snus) and warned that “will” ask for explanations “also to Spain, which accuses of a very restrictive framework by the new anti -tabaco law. The reaction came after the publication of Decree 2025-898 in France, which since April 1, 2026 will ban the production, manufacture, transport, import, export, possession, offer, assignment, acquisition and use of any product of oral use containing nicotine.
The French norm, signed on September 5 and already published in the Journal Officielis based on the Public Health Code to shield a prohibition of broad scope, with exceptions only for medications and certain health products. The central administration accompanies the decree with a sanitary argument: the “pouches” are promoted with digital flavors and campaigns aimed at young people and generate nicotinic dependence, in addition to episodes of acute toxicity.
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Stockholm has responded using its most forceful “weapon” in the single market: a detailed opinion in the TRIS system of the European Commission against the French proposal, for considering it disproportionate and an obstacle to the free circulation of goods. “We are not going to stay with crossed arms while a Swedish industry is restricted,” said Dousa. This instrument forces a technical moratorium of the text to attend objections from the Member States.
Spain and the new antitabaco law
Spain does not stay out and also enters the focus by double. On the one hand, the preliminary draft antitabaco law approved by the Council of Ministers expands smokeless spaces (terraces, marques or sports enclosures), equals “related products” included vapers, shisha and nicotine bags to conventional tobacco in terms of use and advertising, and vetoes the disposable devices. The justification memory of the Ministry underlines the rise of vapeo in minors and the need for normative coherence.
On the other hand, Spain had notified Brussels a specific technical regulation for nicotine bags (via tris) that according to sector contributions I set a cap of 0.99 mg per bag and removed flavorsmeasures criticized by several countries for their “de facto prohibition” effect. It is this file that Sweden and other states have been arguing before the Commission.
The clash is not just commercial. France relies on the evidence of its food and health security agency and the protection of minors; Sweden claims the reduction of damage: “If smoking is allowed, the snus should be,” says Dousa, which links low Swedish smoking excess mortality to the replacement of cigarette with oral alternatives. The tension anticipates the regulatory battle that the EU must free in the review of its tobacco directive.
The debate has Spanish derivatives. The Costa del Sol, the Balearic Islands, the Costa Blanca and Barcelona concentrate part of the Nordic diaspora and its recurring tourism, which amplifies the interest of Stockholm in the legal changes in Spain. Health defends that the update of the law responds to public health objectives and the need to order “related products” whose penetration between adolescents has shot.
On this we must bear in mind that Sweden has an important role in both the demographic bond and with the tourism that is constantly expanding. If we look at the data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) before the pandemic, Scandinavian travelers added 5.17 million arrivals (almost 11% of the total) and the flow has intensified in recent years. The Swedish colony in Spain also grows: 21,527 residents, 1,516 more than a year earlier, with greater presence in Malaga, Alicante, Barcelona and Illes Balears and poles such as the Costa del Sol (Marbella), the Costa Blanca and the Balearic Islands, where the search for housing by Nordic has won traction.