Denounced for their toxicity and addictive nature, particularly for children and adolescents, nicotine sachets, balls and gum will be banned in France from March 2026, a "victory" for anti-tobacco associations.
The ban, published in the Official Journal on Saturday, follows the ban on disposable e-cigarettes, which have been prohibited from sale since the end of February.
A ban on smoking in public spaces such as gardens and parks, beaches, and around schools, has also been in effect since 1 July.
The French Health Minister, Catherine Vautrin says the ban on nicotine pouches underlines her commitment to combating the "risks associated with addiction."
"Nicotine is now considered a poisonous substance due to its harmful effects, and its recreational use presents a risk of initiating smoking, particularly among young people," she told French news agency AFP.
The former Barnier government announced in 2024 its intention to ban nicotine pouches, also known as pouches, due in particular to an increase in poisonings among adolescents.
The global pouch market was valued by Global Markets Insights at $6.6 billion (€5.6 billion) for 2023, and could reach $27.4 billion (€23.4 billion) in 2032.
Recently introduced, tobacco-free nicotine pouches contain polymer fibers impregnated with nicotine and flavourings in a permeable fabric and are inserted between the lip and gum.
The government's ban applies to all "products for oral use containing nicotine, with the exception of medications and medical devices." It does not apply to chewing tobacco.
These include "portion pouches" or "porous pouches," "paste, beads, liquids, chewing gum, lozenges, strips, or any combination of these forms," the text lists.
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The Alliance Against Tobacco ( L'Alliance contre le tabac), a federation of anti-smoking associations, hailed the decision as a "victory."
"This is a crucial measure to protect young people and counter the pernicious strategies of an industry that thrives on the addiction market, to the detriment of public health," it said in a statement.
"Faced with the decline in cigarette consumption in developed countries, nicotine pouches and new nicotine products (heated tobacco and electronic cigarettes) are the new financial El Dorado for cigarette manufacturers," the organisation says, for whom, "far from being weaning tools, nicotine pouches and their derivatives (balls, pearls) only aim to expand the nicotine addiction market."
Manufacturer British American Tobacco France criticised France's "dogmatic approach, without debate or consultation," which "runs the risk (...) of depriving adult smokers of regulated alternatives" to tobacco.
Philip Morris France also denounced the move, accusing France of "persisting with an ineffective ban strategy."
The tobacconists' confederation sees it as a "foretold victory for drug trafficking."
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In November 2023, the French National Food Safety Agency (Anses) called for "special vigilance" regarding these pouches, emphasising that these products, like aromatic beads, were increasingly causing poisoning.
"Children and adolescents are the main victims," Anses noted. Like snus (tobacco in pouch form for oral use, banned for sale in Europe), nicotine pouches "can cause acute, sometimes severe nicotine syndromes: prolonged vomiting with risk of dehydration, convulsions, impaired consciousness, and hypotension requiring vascular replacement," according to the study, which specifies that the majority of poisoned people are between 12 and 17 years old.
Aromatic beads also pose a risk of domestic accidents, particularly for children under three years old who ingest them. The number of calls to poison control centres regarding these products increased from three in 2020 to 86 in 2022, according to Anses.