BACKGROUND AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES: The Dutch adult smoking prevalence trend has stagnated at around 19%. Meanwhile, vaping rates among young people have quadrupled. A tobacco(-related) products supermarket sales ban (July 2024) and an e-cigarette flavour ban (January 2023) have been implemented to address these issues, however policy gaps have impacted their effectiveness. For instance, a registration obligation for tobacco points-of-sale remains unimplemented. This, coupled with a lack of a licensing system, has hampered the effectiveness and ability to monitor the supermarket sales ban. The flavour ban on e-cigarettes has been undermined by many factors: the illegal market, insufficient enforcement and compliance, and industry pressure. In the first half of 2024, 21% of shop inspections recorded violations of the flavour ban.
INTERVENTION OR RESPONSE: Civil society lobbies for a registration obligation and faster implementation of sales restriction to specialty tobacco shops to 1) reduce the time available to set up new tobacco points-of-sale and 2) enable implementation of a licensing system. Additionally, we have lobbied for increased powers for our national enforcement agency, and neutral packaging for e-cigarettes to facilitate enforcement. To raise social awareness among scholars and parents, we work together with other NGO’s and doctors.
RESULTS AND IMPACT: These lobbying activities are ongoing and so many concrete results are yet to be seen, however, what we have realised so far is that the discussion surrounding the registration obligation has gained speed and the national enforcement agency has gained more resources and powers. Moreover, the government is currently working on an action plan against vaping, responding to calls from general public and civil society.
CONCLUSIONS: The recent supermarket sales and e-cigarette flavour ban show the pioneering role of tobacco control policy in the Netherlands. However, challenges remain. Further efforts remain essential to tackle smoking prevalence and the vaping epidemic.