Poland’s “Double Excise” on Vapes Fuels Black Market Fears
New excise tax regulations that took effect in Poland on August 1st have introduced what experts are calling an absurd “double taxation” on vaping products, a move they warn is already fueling a significant expansion of the illicit market. The legislation extends excise duty not only to e-liquids but also to reusable vaping devices and their replaceable cartridges – a policy unprecedented within the European Union.
Krzysztof Flis, Counsel at Baker McKenzie, highlights the issue with disposable e-cigarettes, where in addition to the existing excise on the liquid (which has increased), a new flat tax of 40 PLN per unit is now applied. For reusable systems, the law now taxes both the consumable e-liquid and the device used to deliver it. “I compare this situation to the absurdity of taxing both the vodka and the bottle it’s sold in. This is the first such case in the EU,” Flis commented.
Maciej Powroźnik, president of the Vaping Industry Employers’ Union, echoed this, stating that no other EU country taxes the vaping devices themselves. He noted that such policies are more characteristic of countries like Belarus or Russia. This has raised serious questions about the policy’s coherence, especially as it appears to lack coordination with the Ministry of Health, which has separately proposed a complete ban on disposable e-cigarettes. This puts legal businesses in the position of adapting to new tax rules for products that may soon be outlawed entirely.
This aggressive tax policy is drawing comparisons to Poland’s past. A new report from the Warsaw Enterprise Institute (WEI) recalls that a series of sharp excise hikes between 2011-2014 led to a collapse in the legal cigarette market and a surge in illicit trade, causing budget revenues to fall. The report warns that history is repeating itself. Data from the first quarter of 2025 already shows an alarming 16% drop in legal sales of cigarettes and heated tobacco products, and a 19% drop in roll-your-own tobacco compared to the same period in 2024. This isn’t seen as a public health success, but as hard evidence of consumers fleeing to the black market.
Maciej Powroźnik estimates the black market for vaping products has already reached 40%. The consequences are threefold: fiscal losses for the state, social harm as consumers turn to unregulated products of unknown origin that may contain harmful substances, and economic damage to Poland’s significant legal tobacco and vape manufacturing sector. Experts argue that this policy, under the guise of public health, is instead “producing harm” by dismantling the legal, regulated market and pushing consumers towards dangerous, uncontrolled alternatives.
- News source: Podwójna akcyza zdusi rynek e-papierosów
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