e-cigarettes

EU vaping crackdown, Anafe sounds the alarm: the industry risks collapse

According to Anafe, the revision of the EU Ted and Tpd directives proposed by Brussels could wipe out state revenues and suffocate the market. Instead, it is necessary to fight the 'digital Wild West' of irregular online sales

by Pietro Menzani

21 May 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The incoming squeeze from Brussels on electronic cigarettes risks causing "the structural collapse of a national sector that today is worth one billion euro and provides 50,000 jobs". Launching the alarm is Anafe Confindustria, the National Association of Electronic Cigarette Manufacturers.

At the heart of the association's warning is the EU Council's proposal on the revision of the Ted (Tobacco excise directive) and Tpd (Tobacco products directive), the EU regulations that regulate the tobacco products market and set minimum levels of taxation within the EU territory.

The Ted Directive

According to the president of Anafe Confindustria Umberto Roccatti, the upcoming reform of the Ted - the directive that sets the minimum rates of excise duty that Member States must apply on tobacco - could result in increases that are 'completely unsustainable for businesses and consumers'. Indeed, the association estimates that the squeeze could result in an increase of more than 100 per cent for products containing nicotine and around 200 per cent for those without.

A revision such as the one proposed by the EU Council,' Roccatti explains, 'would have the effect of suffocating the market by introducing excessively high taxes and wiping out state revenues. The precedent that worries Anafe dates back to 2014, when, according to the association's reconstruction, the introduction of a disproportionate tax led the State to collect only three million euro instead of the 107 million budgeted.

The result on that occasion was the collapse of the legal supply chain 'with the closure of 5,000 small businesses'. Because of this, smuggling became endemic in the sector and Roccatti explains that only four years later, in 2018, the situation returned to equilibrium 'thanks to gradual single-digit increases'.

The flavour ban

Anafe Confindustria has also expressed strong opposition to the revision of the Tpd directive, the legislation regulating the production and sale of all tobacco products, including vaping. Particularly worrying for the association is the possible ban on the sale of flavoured liquids, the so-called flavour ban. According to the president, this measure, which aims to restrict consumption by minors, is purely ideological in nature and 'completely ignores reality'.

Roccatti notes that the issue to be addressed is rather the effectiveness of controls on unauthorised channels, since bans and sanctions for under-18s already exist.

"To block flavourings is to strike at the very heart of harm reduction: they are indeed essential to help adult smokers abandon traditional cigarettes". The flavour ban, according to Anafe's estimates, could cause tax revenues to plummet by at least 90 per cent, "decreeing the collapse of the system".

Scattano da oggi i rincari su sigarette e tabacchi

The illicit online marketplace

Roccatti therefore argues that the real problem to be tackled remains the illicit online market and, specifically, irregular sales on social networks and foreign websites of EU member states, described as a real 'digital Far West'. With regard to this issue, Anafe Confindustria calls on the institutions to tighten controls on the web, avoiding "overburdening only the regular and recognisable operators in the territory with fulfilments and bureaucracy".

Finally, Roccatti states that he trusts that 'the government will defend in the European tables a supply chain worth one billion euro and hundreds of millions in revenue' and announces that 'Italian companies are ready to make further efforts towards even greater compliance, provided that the measures are gradual, sustainable, and supported by a real capacity of the state to ensure compliance by all'.