Developing a sustainable and responsible regulatory framework for nicotine pouches is an ongoing challenge. The European Nicotine Pouches Alliance (ENPA) works within a rapidly evolving tobacco and nicotine control environment to ensure that the role of harm-reduced nicotine products is properly understood and reflected in policymaking.

ENPA seeks to remove unnecessary legislative barriers and to promote regulatory approaches that are proportionate, evidence-based, and consistent with the principles of tobacco harm reduction.

We rely on real-world experience and population-level evidence to inform decision-makers. The Nordic region provides a clear example of how access to less harmful alternatives can contribute to lower smoking rates. Sweden, in particular, is on the verge of becoming the world’s first smoke-free country, with fewer than 5 percent of adults smoking, the lowest prevalence in the European Union, alongside the lowest levels of tobacco-related disease and premature mortality in Europe.

Member States with similar or even more strict tobacco control measures, who do not allow low risk alternatives, are consistently and without exception showing worse results. Often 3, 4 or 5 times higher numbers of daily smokers.

Despite these outcomes, the nicotine pouches category faces growing regulatory uncertainty. Statements from the European Commission suggest that further disproportionate restrictions cannot be ruled out, including the possible application of nicotine pouch regulation without taking the low risk level to account or even the risk of a category-wide ban. ENPA works to ensure that future regulation remains grounded in science, reflects relative risk, and supports public health objectives rather than undermining them.