On Jan. 1, Latvia became the ninth European country to ban flavored vapes. The new law also limits nicotine content in nicotine pouches to 4 mg/g, and prohibits vapes and other nicotine products that resemble candy or toys.
Latvia’s Tobacco Products Act was amended a year ago to ban vape flavors other than tobacco and restrict vape product sales to people 20 and older. A ban on mint and menthol flavors took effect in August 2024.
The flavor ban applies to both in-person and online sales, including sales from vendors outside the country. The law also limits the number of legal flavorings in tobacco-flavored e-liquids to 16 specific flavoring components, similar to the rule adopted in The Netherlands.
The amended law increases penalties for selling prohibited products and for sales to people under age 20. According to news site Baltija, fines range from €280-700 for individuals, and from €700-7,100 for businesses
Some Latvian vape retailers intend to circumvent the law by selling unflavored nicotine and pre-mixed flavorings separately, according to Latvian Television. Such products, usually called shortfills, are used in other EU countries (and the United Kingdom) to bypass the 10 mL bottle-size limit.
A lawsuit challenging the flavor ban on constitutional grounds has been filed by Latvian manufacturer Pro Vape in the country’s Constitutional Court, but the law will remain in effect while the case is decided. According to Russian news site TVNET, a hearing is scheduled for May 13, and the court is likely to decide the case this summer.
Latvia is the eighth European Union member state to prohibit vape flavors, following Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. Spain isin the process of completing a flavor ban. Ukraine, which is not an EU member, also prohibits flavored vapes. No European country has an outright vape ban.
Latvia has the third-highest percentage of daily cigarette smokers in the EU, according to Latvian Public Media. The site reports that 22.1 percent of Latvian adults smoke daily, behind only Bulgaria and Greece.
Latvia is a high-income country with about 1.9 million residents. It lies east of the Baltic Sea, between Lithuania and Estonia, and borders Russia and Belarus to its east.
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Because of declining cigarette sales, state governments in the U.S. and countries around the world are looking to vapor products as a new source of tax revenue.
The legal age to buy e-cigarettes and other vaping products varies around the world. The United States recently changed the legal minimum sales age to 21.
A list of vaping product flavor bans and online sales bans in the United States, and sales and possession bans in other countries.
