EU countries want vaping included in bloc’s tobacco tax law

Sixteen EU countries have asked the European Commission to propose a new law in the coming months on taxing tobacco in the bloc to include new products such as electronic cigarettes - vapes - which are not covered under existing legislation.

The initiative, led by the Netherlands, has the support of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, Slovenia and Portugal.

In a letter to the Commission, finance ministers from the countries say an update to the bloc's 2011 EU tobacco taxation law is needed because - in the absence of EU regulations on vaping - each country now applies different rules and levels of excise tax, distorting the bloc's single market.

"Based on the current directive, most of these products cannot be taxed like traditional tobacco products. The provisions of the...