After the excise tax increase, legal sales of disposable e-cigarettes and pods containing vaping liquid fell by more than 90%, causing disruption for producers, lower budget revenues and growth of the black market, experts said during a conference organised by the Association of Employers of the Vaping Industry. In their opinion, the objectives of the new regulations in terms of health policy have not been achieved, which is why a reassessment of the regulatory impact is needed. They also stressed that both national and EU regulations in this area do not sufficiently take scientific research into account.
“The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union requires policies, including health and anti-nicotine policies, to be based on scientific evidence. There is now a lot of such evidence. Today, science already knows a great deal about the harmful effects of nicotine products. Nicotine itself is not harmful in the doses in which it is approved for sale. What causes tobacco-related diseases is tobacco and the various substances created when it is burned,” Krzysztof Łanda, a physician, Deputy Minister of Health in 2015–2017 and founder of the Watch Health Care Foundation, told Newseria.
According to the systematic review of scientific evidence cited by the expert, prepared by HTA Formedis for the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers in 2024, available studies show clear differences in the level of exposure to harmful substances between different nicotine products. The review assessed heated tobacco devices, e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.
“All three assessment paths we carried out — the chemical path concerning harmful substances, biomarkers and clinical endpoints relevant to patients — clearly show that there are products less harmful than conventional cigarettes. Ordinary cigarettes are the most harmful and contain the largest amount of dangerous toxins in their smoke. Heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful. Nicotine pouches are difficult to suspect of having any harmful effect, since they have nothing to do with tobacco,” explained Dr Krzysztof Łanda.
The review of studies comparing various nicotine products takes into account not only their composition, but also the level of exposure in the body and health effects. In such analyses, traditional cigarettes remain the product with the highest risk.
“The European Union’s Tobacco Products Directive does not take these studies into account. It was created in 2014 on the basis of research from 2008–2013, and therefore it does not account for either novel products or clinical studies, of which there are more and more and which provide more information about the harmfulness of these products,” the former Deputy Minister of Health said. “There is an attempt to create policy detached from scientific evidence, and this is inconsistent with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, common sense and accepted global standards. If we are to develop good solutions in this area, we cannot ignore existing scientific evidence.”
Based on a review of anti-nicotine policies, the expert believes that a comprehensive and balanced strategy works best in practice. Such a strategy includes, among other things, high and stable taxes on tobacco products, regulations on smoke-free spaces, complete bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, accessible and subsidised support for quitting smoking, and regulated, safe harm-reduction pathways for smokers. He contrasts this with an ineffective fragmented approach, characterised by weak enforcement of rules or by banning less harmful alternatives as tools for quitting smoking.
Examples from other countries show that the effectiveness of bans largely depends on enforcement. In Greece, a digital retail register for alcohol and tobacco products has been created, and all sellers must register in it. This facilitates on-site inspections. In addition, sellers are required to verify the buyer’s age using a QR code and a government app. If a minor is caught with alcohol, a tobacco product or an e-cigarette and identifies the place of purchase, both the seller and the owner of the outlet may be held liable. Violations may result in administrative penalties, as well as criminal liability of up to three years in prison and financial fines.
“I recently attended a meeting at the Ministry of Finance, where only two objectives of anti-nicotine policy were presented, which in practice means there is no such policy. One was to organise the market — I do not see that happening. There is growing chaos and expansion of the black market for nicotine products in Poland. The second was the fiscal goal, meaning as much money as possible for the state budget. I do not see that either. In terms of prices, we are at the maximum point of the Laffer curve, which means that further increases in product prices will reduce budget revenues,” argued Krzysztof Łanda.
Last year, vaping products were subject to an excise tax of PLN 40 per item. The changes introduced led to a sharp decline in legal sales.
“Such a high excise tax caused a drastic fall in sales, both in disposable e-cigarettes, whose restriction was essentially the purpose of raising the tax, and in ordinary vaping devices. This is causing major difficulties for companies involved in the production, distribution and import of these products,” said Adam Abramowicz, President of the Employers’ Organisation Council of Entrepreneurs.
According to data from the Market Monitoring Centre, in December 2025 sales of vaping products fell from 10.6 million units a year earlier to 650,000, a decline of 94%. In previous months, decreases also remained at the level of 93–95%. Sales of disposable e-cigarettes shrank in the final month of the year from 4.46 million to 60,000 units, while sales of e-cigarette pods fell from 6.13 million to 590,000 units year on year.
Experts from the Association of Employers of the Vaping Industry stress that the decline in legal sales does not mean a fall in demand, but rather a shift outside the official market. According to calculations by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, the grey market and illegal trade in e-cigarettes in Poland currently accounts for 58%.
“These products are not controlled at all in terms of composition. They flow in from abroad and are distributed without any problem to young people, so the intended health effect has missed the mark. The economic effect, however, is measurable: small outlets are closing, the industry’s development is being restricted, and this may soon also be linked to rising unemployment,” said Adam Abramowicz.
The vaping products industry in Poland consists of around 1,000 companies, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, employing a total of about 12,000 people. Regulatory changes and the decline in legal sales directly affect their situation and the labour market.
“Several months have passed since the law was introduced. The losses for the SME sector, the economy and the budget, which were highlighted even in the regulatory impact assessment, were supposed to be justified by good health effects for society. Today we can see that these positive effects have not materialised, while losses for the budget and companies have. An ex-post assessment of this law should be carried out and the law should be corrected,” said the President of the Employers’ Organisation Council of Entrepreneurs.
The expert points out that the effects of regulation should be analysed comprehensively, both in terms of public health and its impact on the economy and state revenues.
“After several months of operation, we can see that public health is not being protected by these regulations at all. Quite the opposite, because a significant number of products from the grey market have appeared on the market, meaning they have uncontrolled compositions. There is no revenue for the budget, because they are obviously sold without any excise tax or other taxes. Legal consumption of vaping products has fallen, but cigarette consumption has increased. This also means that the public health sphere has not achieved the intended effects,” Adam Abramowicz stressed.
Data from other countries also show that regulatory restrictions often lead to sales shifting outside the official market. In the Netherlands, after the ban on the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes was introduced, more than 35% of users buy products abroad, and more than 30% buy them through informal channels. In Denmark, despite similar restrictions, more than 90% of users consider the products easy to access.
“The age of people buying these products will certainly not be controlled in the grey market, because it simply cannot be controlled there. Therefore, from a public health perspective, it would be better if these channels were legal,” argued the President of the Employers’ Organisation Council of Entrepreneurs.
