Netherlands plans to raise price of cigarette packet to €47 by 2040

June 7, 2022

Par: National Committee Against Smoking

Dernière mise à jour: June 7, 2022

Temps de lecture: 4 minutes

Among other measures undertaken in the Netherlands, the increase in excise taxes on tobacco should raise the price of a packet of cigarettes to €10 in 2025 and between €30 and €57 by 2040, to achieve the objective of a tobacco-free generation by that date.

Reducing healthcare costs in the Netherlands is a stated priority of the National Prevention Agreement, concluded in 2018 between the state and 70 healthcare organisations. This priority was reaffirmed by the new coalition government, which came to power in December 2021.[1].

Substantial increases planned over 17 years

One of the key measures of this programme is to substantially increase the price of tobacco products over a long period of time, with a view to reducing smoking prevalence. This prevalence in the Netherlands was 20.2 % smokers in 2020, including 14.9 % daily smokers.[2]. The objective of a tobacco-free generation in 2040, i.e. fewer than 5,100 smokers, however, requires strong measures, hence the idea of gradually but significantly increasing excise taxes on tobacco products. These increases should lead to a pack of cigarettes costing €10 in 2025, and between €30 and €57 in 2040, with an average price estimated at €47, compared to €8 today. Thresholds that seem high today, but which nevertheless correspond to the many medical and social costs that smoking generates. In France, an assessment taken up by the ACT in a communication campaign had also placed the real price of a pack at €45 to absorb all the costs of tobacco.[3].

The programming of these increases over a long period is one of the particularities of this measure. It notably leads the Dutch government to protect the policy of combating smoking over the next 17 years, on a model already inaugurated by the United Kingdom and Finland. The examples of Australia, where the price of a packet of cigarettes currently stands at €24, and of France with a packet at €10, play an inciting role here.[4]. A decision supported by a recent study by the University of Maastricht, according to which the deterrent effect of the price would only really work from €12, and which indicates that it would be necessary to increase this price to €60 per packet to get 50% of smokers to stop smoking.[5].

Anti-smoking measures that end up being introduced, despite the industrial lobby

These tax increases are accompanied by other measures. After the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes and rolling tobacco, the ban on smoking in railway stations and the removal of tobacco stalls from points of sale[6], the next steps concern the ban on sales in supermarkets, planned for 2024[7], internet sales and vending machines.

These advances should not make us forget that, while all countries in the world are subject to incessant lobbying by the tobacco industry, the Netherlands is a favorite target for cigarette manufacturers, who still have many factories there and benefit from significant tax advantages. Manufacturers have already delayed the increase in the price of a packet to €10, initially planned for 2023.[8] They also fought hard to try to prevent the introduction of plain packaging.[9]. These are all reasons to protect public policies from attempts at interference by the tobacco industry, as recommended in Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Keywords: Netherlands, price, Tobacco Free Generation, plain packaging