Dutch MPs want to break the appeal of e-cigarettes

A group of Dutch parliamentarians is proposing to make e-cigarettes uniform and unattractive, in order to break the "glamor" effect of these products. This proposal is expected to be adopted, five months after the implementation of the ban on non-tobacco flavours in vaping products.

"E-cigarettes look like lipsticks or markers. They are often very colorful and there are some with glitter. Parents have no idea what their young people have in their pockets. It is very worrying.", complains Jeanet van der Laan, a member of parliament from the D66 group, "It makes them look like glamorous accessories, when in fact it's just for smoking and it's bad for your health. And young people are tempted by all this glitz to start smoking."

It was therefore to break their appeal to young people that Dutch parliamentarians tabled a bill on Wednesday March 8th aimed at standardizing electronic cigarettes and imposing a standardized and neutral presentation of the product.[1]This project seems to have every chance of being adopted.

Standardization of electronic cigarette models and colors

Making vaping devices less attractive to reduce their use among young people is the idea behind this bill, which is very directly inspired by the standardized neutral cigarette packet. The great diversity of e-cigarette models appears to be a factor of social distinction, like mobile phones, where the vaper's personality would be expressed through the possession and characteristics of one of these devices. This distinction provided by the product would be a significant attractive element, particularly among young people. Reducing the many models offered to a single standard model, for example in the shape of a cigarette to remind people that it is a tobacco substitute, is one of the avenues being considered.

The most colourful models also concern disposable electronic cigarettes ("puffs"), which are very popular with young people, and those with replaceable cartridges ("pods"). Standardising or even breaking the appeal dE-cigarettes, either by adopting a single colour or by limiting the permitted colours to black and white, were also under consideration. With these measures, parliamentarians hope to reduce the proportion of young people who indulge in vaping, which has increased sharply in the last two years, as in most industrialised countries authorising the sale of e-cigarettes.

Standardization of all tobacco and nicotine products

In the Netherlands, plain packaging has already been applied to cigarettes, rolling tobacco and vaping liquids since 1^er January 2022, and the principle of standardizing the packaging of cigars and cigarillos was enacted in December 2022[2]The Netherlands also has prohibits aromas other than tobacco for all types of electronic cigarettes, a measure which will come into force on 1^er October 2023.

Other Dutch political parties, such as the CDA, PvdA and VVD, are very interested in the Tobacco Free Generation project and hope to be able to implement it as early as 2035, thus removing the possibility for anyone born from 2017 onwards to buy tobacco products.[3].

Keywords: Netherlands, e-cigarettes, plain packaging, Tobacco Free Generation

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[1] Dutch parliament supports making e-cigarettes look boring, uniform, NL Times, published March 8, 2023, accessed March 9, 2023.

[2] Netherlands – Upcoming legislation on plain packaging for cigars, Cigar Journal, published December 16, 2022, accessed March 9, 2023.

[3] Will cigarette sales go up in smoke?, Erasmus University Rotterdam, published January 3, 2023, accessed March 9, 2023.