Benjamin Dousa, Swedish Minister of Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, has sent a letter to the Government of Spain urging it to reorient its regulatory plan on nicotine pouches. In the writings (dated September 24) Stockholm expresses its “serious concern” about the impact on the free movement of goods and maintains that the measures “go beyond what is necessary”, by de facto closing the market to a product currently permitted in much of the EU. The specialized portal Pouchforum He published both letters in their entirety.
This comes after in Spain, the Ministry of Health maintains a Royal Decree in process that, among other restrictions, proposes banning all flavors except tobacco and limiting nicotine to 0.99 mg per bag. This threshold, according to producers and several Member States, would amount to a hidden ban. The text was notified to the Commission’s TRIS system (file 2025/0044/ES), which contains the details and objections presented during the process.
You may be interested
The EU accepts the destruction of thousands of jobs in this region of Spain and tobacco smugglers rub their hands at the abandonment of the WHO
The price of tobacco changes starting this Saturday in several brands of cigars and cigarettes
Sweden had previously used the community route (the “detailed opinion”) to suspend the Spanish calendar for three months and force a technical dialogue. “Nicotine pouches are not a healthy product, but if smoking is allowed, lower risk alternatives should be allowed,” Dousa has defended in several public interventions, in line with the Swedish harm reduction strategy.
Single market versus public health
To understand this, we must realize that the core of the dispute is European. Sweden maintains that blanket bans create unjustified barriers to intra-EU trade and discourage investment in a product that, it argues, has contributed to its very low prevalence of daily smokers. France and Spain reply that the community regulatory vacuum and the protection of health (especially of minors) support stricter measures at the national level. The French file exposes an increase in poisonings reported to anti-venom centers as one of the reasons for its hard line.
In parallel, several countries have raised formal observations in Brussels against the severity of the Spanish and French plans, warning of undesirable consequences in smoking policy if reduced risk alternatives are closed.
What does the letter sent to Spain say?
In the letter addressed to Spain, the Swedish Government appreciates Madrid’s response to the detailed opinion, but insists that the 0.99 mg ceiling and other restrictions “in practice can prevent any export” to the country. “Spain is a key partner; we hope to find less restrictive options,” says Dousa, according to the content published by Pouchforum.
The Swedish turn is not innocuous, since anti-smoking organizations in Sweden have harshly criticized the diplomatic offensive. “It’s unconscionable and it embarrasses me,” said Helen Stjerna of A Non Smoking Generation of attempts to curb regulation in other countries. The Government replies that it is not defending a “healthy product”, but rather the regulatory balance and coherence of the single market.
What’s coming now
In the short term, the political calendar is different in each country. In Spain, the rule is still being processed after the pause forced by the detailed opinion and observations received in the TRIS, without an official approval date, and in full discussion about whether its design respects the proportionality required by European jurisprudence. At Community level, the Commission and Parliament are working on the review of the tobacco and nicotine directive (TPD III/TEDOR), which will establish the common framework for these products.