The new Swiss legislation on vaping - October 1, 2024

Switzerland's new vaping legislation, embodied by the LTab and LPtab laws, has been widely criticized by industry professionals and some public health experts. These laws impose a significant tax on nicotine e-liquids, increasing their cost by nearly 30%, while keeping taxes on traditional cigarettes unchanged. Bottles of nicotine-containing liquid are now limited to 10 ml, with a maximum concentration of 20 mg/ml, and are taxed at 20 centimes per milliliter. Disposable e-cigarettes, on the other hand, are taxed at 1 franc per milliliter.

Vape shops are no longer allowed to mix nicotine base with e-liquids for customers, although this restriction is not explicitly mentioned in the law*. This ban is reportedly due to strict labeling requirements, which make it virtually impossible to customize blends in-store. This now forces consumers to make their own blends, further complicating the use of vaping products.

* At Vapoteurs Suisses, we offer to mix the liquid after purchase, once the e-liquid is the customer's property.

Some experts, such as Camille Robert of the French-speaking Group for Addiction Studies (GREA), consider these measures counterproductive in terms of public health. While the introduction of the tax on vaping could be justified, it would have been logical to also increase taxes on cigarettes to maintain an attractive price differential in favor of vaping. The fact that tobacco prices have remained unchanged suggests a decision in favor of maintaining the appeal of traditional cigarettes.

This disparity in taxation fuels speculation about possible influence from the tobacco lobby. By making vaping less attractive and more expensive, this legislation appears to indirectly support sales of traditional cigarettes, directly benefiting the interests of major tobacco companies. This raises questions about the true motives behind these decisions and suggests that these laws may well have been influenced by pressure from the tobacco industry to protect its market share, at the expense of public health risk reduction initiatives.

Source: RTS (Article here )