Nicotine pouches

Oral, tobacco-free products containing synthetic or natural nicotine, presented as portioned sachets, powder, particles or paste.

Contested No act in force

verified 10.07.2026 · TPD Pro regulatory desk

Not every value on this page is confirmed.

Fields carrying a Draft marker come from a measure that is not in force. Fields carrying Needs check have not yet been verified at source. Both are marked individually next to the value, and the open questions are listed at the foot of this page.

Position

Where this stands, in words.

Contested Authorities take conflicting positions. Both are shown, both sourced.

Two official positions conflict and neither has been withdrawn. The tax authority has levied excise on nicotine pouches at €0.10 per gram since 1 April 2025, which presupposes a taxable product. The health ministry's position is that sale is not permitted, there being no act authorising it. This is a legal vacuum rather than a permission, and it is not the same as either a ban or an open market. A draft royal decree would set a 0.99 mg per pouch limit and a draft bill would bring pouches within the tobacco act; neither is in force. Do not rely on either position without a written ruling.

Commercial sale Contested

The conflict is the fact. Obtaining a written position from the health ministry and a binding tax ruling from the Dirección General de Tributos is the market's critical open question.

No act in force; the health ministry states sale is not permitted, while excise is levied

Online sale Contested

The cross-border distance-selling prohibition is expressed in terms of e-cigarettes and refill containers, so its application to pouches is a grey area. In practice supply comes from other EU states.

The distance-selling prohibition is drafted for e-cigarettes and refill containers

Requirements

Every parameter, with its source.

A field with no source is not shown at all — not shown with a caveat, not shown. Anything missing from this table is missing because it has not been verified, not because it does not apply.

Legal basis

Base law The act the category is governed by in this market.: No specific act in force (vacío legal)

A legal vacuum is not a permission. General law applies, and the health ministry's stated position is that sale is not permitted.

sanidad.gob.es verified 10.07.2026
EU-level regulation Whether and how the category is covered by EU law. A category outside EU law is regulated market by market, with no common floor.: Not covered by EU law

sanidad.gob.es verified 10.07.2026
Competent authority Who regulates, who supervises, and who receives the filing.: Ministerio de Sanidad; Comisionado para el Mercado de Tabacos

sanidad.gob.es verified 10.07.2026

Composition and limits

Maximum nicotine The ceiling on nicotine content, in the unit the act sets it in.: None in force. The draft royal decree would set 0.99 mg per pouch Draft

This is a figure from a draft measure. It is not a statement of current law and must not be treated as a limit to design to.

Proyecto de Real Decreto — draft, not in force sanidad.gob.es verified 10.07.2026

Notification

Notification channel Where the filing goes. Not an assumption: some markets take these products outside EU-CEG entirely, and some have no channel at all.: None in force. The draft royal decree would use EU-CEG under the category otros Draft

Whether the European Commission would accept registration under the otros subcategory has not been answered.

Proyecto de Real Decreto — draft, not in force sanidad.gob.es verified 10.07.2026

Sales

Minimum age The age below which sale is prohibited.: 18 years Needs check

Practice; no express statutory prohibition for this category sanidad.gob.es verified 10.07.2026

Excise and chemicals

Advertising What promotion is permitted, if any.: Not restricted in force. The draft bill would align it with tobacco Draft

Anteproyecto de Ley — draft, not in force sanidad.gob.es verified 10.07.2026
Excise The rate and its basis of assessment. Five markets use four different units, so the unit travels with the figure.: 0.10 €/g

In force since 01.04.2025. Excise is levied on a product the health ministry states may not be sold; the two positions have not been reconciled.

Ley 7/2024; Orden HAC/86/2025 boe.es verified 10.07.2026
Excise territory Where the excise applies, when a market's tax territory is not the whole state.: Mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands. Not the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla

Spain's excise territory is not the whole state. The islands and the North African cities have their own indirect tax regimes.

Ley 7/2024 boe.es verified 10.07.2026
Chemicals legislation REACH, CLP, safety data sheets and poison-centre notification, which apply in parallel to the product regime.: REACH and CLP apply to nicotine as a substance

Regulation (EC) 1907/2006; Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 sanidad.gob.es verified 10.07.2026

Commonly misreported

What the internet gets wrong.

widely reported

Nicotine pouches are taxed in Spain, so they must be legal to sell.

what the source says

Excise has been levied at €0.10 per gram since 1 April 2025, and the health ministry's position is that sale is not permitted, there being no act authorising it. Both are official and neither has been withdrawn. Taxation is not authorisation, and a tax that presupposes a product is not a licence to place it on the market. Until a written position from the health ministry and a binding ruling from the Dirección General de Tributos resolve it, the market is contested rather than open.

Ley 7/2024; Ministerio de Sanidad position boe.es

widely reported

Spain limits nicotine pouches to 0.99 mg and permits only tobacco-flavoured e-liquids.

what the source says

Both figures come from a draft royal decree that is not in force. It is still in the TRIS procedure as notification 26624, and its final text and transitional periods are unsettled. Designing a product to a draft limit and shipping before it commences means complying with a rule that does not yet exist while possibly missing the one that does.

Proyecto de Real Decreto — draft sanidad.gob.es

widely reported

Spanish excise on liquids and pouches applies throughout Spain.

what the source says

It applies in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands only. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla are outside the excise territory and operate their own indirect tax regimes. Shipments between the mainland and those territories carry their own declaration requirements.

Ley 7/2024 boe.es

Not in force

What is coming for this category.

None of this is law today.

Draft

Draft royal decree amending RD 579/2017

A draft. It is not law and does not bind anyone.

Would set a 0.99 mg nicotine limit per pouch, restrict e-liquids to tobacco flavour, and introduce generic packaging. Notified to the Commission under TRIS as notification 26624. Whether it has been published in the BOE, its final text and its transitional periods are all open. Nothing in it is in force.

Proyecto de Real Decreto; TRIS notification 26624 sanidad.gob.es

Draft

Draft bill amending Ley 28/2005

A draft. It is not law and does not bind anyone.

Would prohibit disposable devices after a twelve-month transition, place nicotine pouches on the same footing as tobacco, and prohibit consumption by under-18s. Its stage, date and transitional arrangements are open. Disposable devices remain lawful in the meantime.

Anteproyecto de Ley sanidad.gob.es

Open questions

What we have not closed yet.

Open verification questions
Priority	Question	Where to look
Critical	The pouch conflict — taxed but stated not to be permitted. Obtain a written position from the Ministerio de Sanidad and the Comisionado, and a binding consultation (consulta vinculante) from the Dirección General de Tributos. blocks: base-law	Ministerio de Sanidad · AEAT / DGT consultas vinculantes
Critical	Fate of the draft royal decree — the 0.99 mg limit, the flavour restriction and generic packaging: whether it has been published in the BOE, its final text and its transitional periods. blocks: nicotine-max	BOE · TRIS notification 26624
Critical	Fate of the draft bill amending Ley 28/2005 — the prohibition on disposables, the alignment of pouches with tobacco, and the prohibition on consumption by under-18s. Its stage, date and twelve-month transition.	Congreso de los Diputados · BOE
Medium	Online sale of pouches: whether the cross-border distance-selling prohibition, drafted for e-cigarettes, applies to them, and the conditions for domestic online sale. blocks: online-sale	Ministerio de Sanidad · Legal opinion
Medium	Notification of pouches through EU-CEG: the European Commission's answer on registration under the otros subcategory. blocks: notification-channel	TRIS notification 26624 · Ministerio de Sanidad
Medium	Territorial scope of the excise: the treatment of the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, and the declarations required on shipments between the mainland and those territories. blocks: excise-territory	AEAT · Tax advice

verified 10.07.2026 · TPD Pro regulatory desk