Tobacco majors intensify lobbying as France and EU prepare new vaping rules
Tobacco groups are expanding their influence campaigns in Paris and Brussels as France and the EU consider new taxes and restrictions on vaping. The debate could reshape a €1.6 billion French market serving about 3.6 million users and 3,500 independent shops.
A shrinking cigarette market drives investment in vaping
Major tobacco companies are intensifying their efforts to influence vaping regulation in France and the European Union as policymakers prepare measures covering taxation, advertising, flavours and distribution. France is a particularly important battleground because its €1.6 billion vaping market, used by about 3.6 million people, remains largely controlled by independent entrepreneurs rather than global tobacco groups.
The commercial pressure is clear. Conventional cigarette volumes sold by manufacturers in France fell from 92,000 tonnes in 2000 to 33,000 tonnes in 2024. Daily smoking among adults aged 18 to 75 had declined to less than 25% by 2023. Over the same period, vaping became the country’s leading substitute for cigarettes, with the number of users more than doubling between 2017 and 2023.
Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Japan Tobacco International have invested heavily in vaping and other alternatives as their traditional business contracts. Yet cigarettes still generated 81% of BAT’s worldwide revenue when the company published a manifesto promoting a “smoke-free world” in December 2024. Marketing practices identified in an investigation by France Télévisions journalist Manon de Couët included geolocated advertising, promotions in bars, appearances at music festivals, influencers and packaging inspired by manga and video games.
Influence campaign extends from Paris to Brussels
In Brussels, tobacco manufacturers’ influence network includes at least 49 affiliated organisations with an estimated annual budget of €14 million. Industry representatives held 257 recorded meetings with members of the European Parliament between 2023 and September 2025. PMI accounted for 121 meetings, compared with about 12 for the public-health coalition Smoke Free Partnership.
The campaign also reached the European Commission. At the end of April 2026, parliamentarians demanded an internal investigation after disclosures of unreported exchanges between officials in the Directorate-General for Trade and PMI representatives concerning heated-tobacco and vaping regulation.
In France, former presidential-majority lawmaker Adrien Morenas has advised BAT for three years. The Arcane has supported Philip Morris France president Xavier Puech in promoting a proposed “Grenelle de la nicotine”, while Havas has also worked for the company in France. Other public-affairs firms have represented Imperial Brands Seita, BAT’s French subsidiary or logistics group Logista.
Tax, retail and generational restrictions are contested
The EU is reviewing its Tobacco Products Directive, Tobacco Advertising Directive and Tobacco Taxation Directive. The industry argues that vaping and heated-tobacco products reduce risk and should therefore receive more favourable tax and advertising treatment than conventional cigarettes. It has also secured support from countries hosting tobacco-related factories that could be affected by stricter measures.
France’s 2026 budget bill initially proposed an e-liquid tax, a ban on flavours and a prohibition on online sales. Amendments seeking mandatory administrative approval for vaping distributors could have created a near-monopoly for tobacconists, favouring products supplied by major tobacco groups over France’s 3,500 independent vape shops. The proposal was ultimately withdrawn, angering the Confederation of Tobacconists, but the dispute exposed the sector’s vulnerability to regulatory change.
Pressure is also growing for a generational tobacco ban. The British Parliament adopted legislation on April 20, 2026 permanently prohibiting cigarette sales to people born after 2008. In France, Green lawmaker Nicolas Thierry and prevention groups support a cross-party proposal signed by 38 lawmakers to ban tobacco sales to people born after 2014 from 2032. Six former health ministers also back it. Supporters cite an annual social cost of tobacco of €156 billion and say public spending on healthcare and anti-smuggling measures is eight times the tax collected. New Zealand shows such policies can be reversed: its generational ban, approved in 2022, was repealed in late 2023 before taking effect.