Tangy logos, flashy bottles, candy flavors: on the shelves, vaping products sometimes look more like candy than tobacco-related devices. Faced with this aesthetic, two deputies want to align them with the regime imposed on classic tobacco since 2017.
On April 15, deputies Nicolas Thierry and Pierre Cazeneuve tabled a bill to generalize the neutral package to all vaping productsincluding without nicotine. Stated objective: to fight “against the entry of young people into dependence”, while vaping is progressing quickly among high school students.
Neutral package for vaping: what the proposed law provides
The text provides that “packaging units, outer packaging of vaping products“, even without nicotine, become “neutral and standardized“, based on the model of cigarette packets in force since 2017. A decree would specify the details, with the possibility of extending this neutrality to the devices themselves. Planned in the National Anti-Tobacco Program 2023-2027, the measure is supported by the National Committee against Tobacco and the Contre-feu association, and the deputies aim for inclusion on the agenda in June 2026.
For Nicolas Thierry, at the origin of a proposal to ban tobacco for people born after 2014, “we must remove from these products what fuels their distribution to minors“, he declared during a press conference, quoted by franceinfo. The MP is targeting “marketing codes” such as models with “bright colors” or “the universe inspired by confectionery”. His co-author Pierre Cazeneuve, from the Ensemble pour la République group, says he is grateful to “the electronic cigarette”, which has allowed him to “get away from traditional cigarettes”, but also believes “that we must fight with all our strength against the entry of young people into addiction through these ultra-marketed products“.
Vaping among young people: sharply rising figures and very real risks
Public data paints a worrying picture. According to the French Observatory on Drugs and Addictive Tendencies, 46% of high school students have already experimented with electronic cigarettes in 2024, and 6.8% use them every day, an increase of 79% in two years. Nearly one in five college students also say they have already vaped.
The European ESPAD survey indicates that at 16 years old, 5.8% of French people vape daily, compared to 3.1% who smoke tobacco. For the National Committee Against Smoking, this rapid spread raises fears of a new nicotine epidemic among adolescents, with research showing a two to four times higher risk of smoking among a young vaper than among a non-user.
Neutral package: what impact on vaping?
For the CNCT, the very colorful packaging serves as disguised advertising and trivializes vaping.
According to Yves Martinet, president of the CNCT, “This bill is an essential step for an effective prevention policy. It appears urgent to limit the electronic cigarette as a complementary tool to help with smoking cessation, and to put an end to the practices of manufacturers aiming to make it a gateway to nicotine addiction. The health of younger generations should not be the variable for adjusting the financial sustainability of tobacco manufacturers.”.
ANSES recalls that, even less harmful than tobacco, electronic cigarettes have “probable cardiovascular effects”, and ten years of neutral packaging on tobacco have already reduced the attractiveness of the packages and increased attempts to quit.