Our ask
Three reasonable corrections
We are not arguing against regulation. We are asking that one set of products also receive one date, one transition arrangement and one proper legal instrument - in line with every comparable Belgian e-cigarette measure.
1. One date: 01/09/2028
Align the enforcement date of the coolant ban with that of the flavour ban: 01/09/2028 instead of 01/01/2027. Both measures affect the same products; the flavour ban covers them from 01/09/2028 anyway. Two deadlines twenty months apart force the sector to adapt the same products twice and create legal uncertainty, with no additional health benefit. One coherent deadline solves that.
2. A matching transition and sell-off arrangement
Provide the same transition and sell-off as for the flavour ban, for stock that has already been legally notified and that FPS Public Health itself - up to and including 16/04/2026 - accepted as compliant. Companies should not be penalised for products that the authorities expressly treated as non-blocking for thirteen months.
3. Clarity on the legal instrument
A binding market ban with seizure should proceed via a formal, EU-notified Royal or Ministerial Decree - as with the flavour ban and as member states such as the Netherlands and Austria do - and not via a letter from a department head. Clarify the legal nature and the chosen instrument.
The run-up of comparable Belgian e-cigarette measures
Every other measure in the sector was given a longer run-up than this coolant ban. The measure with the greatest commercial impact is precisely the one given the shortest timeline and the only one with no transition.
Disposables ban: Royal Decree 03/05/2024 (Official Gazette 16/07/2024), in force 01/01/2025 - around nine months from signing, existing stock de facto saleable until entry into force. Display ban: Act 21/03/2024 (Official Gazette 02/04/2024), in force 01/04/2025 - around twelve months. Flavour ban: approved 30/04/2026, in force 01/09/2028 - around twenty-seven months, with sale of existing stock until entry into force. Coolant ban (this measure): communicated 18/06/2026, blocking 01/01/2027 - around six months, no transition, no sell-off. To illustrate the usual approach: the plain-packaging rules for tobacco and herbal smoking products (Royal Decree + Ministerial Decree 28/07/2025, in force 01/06/2026, sell-off until 01/01/2027) likewise provided for a run-up and sell-off; that measure does not, incidentally, apply to e-cigarettes.
The same products, two deadlines
The TRPM8 list and the flavour ban affect the same menthol, mint and cooling products. The flavour ban goes even further (around 99% of products market-wide versus roughly half for the coolant list). Yet the more generously granted flavour ban gets 01/09/2028 and the heavier, immediate effect gets 01/01/2027. A common date is more logical and easier to enforce.
A product count underestimates the damage
An estimated half of all products on the positive list are affected - but these are precisely the bestsellers. A mere count severely underestimates the commercial impact. According to a sector estimate (revenue is not in the public data, hence expressly an estimate) it concerns an estimated 85% or so of total market revenue; for most manufacturers the ban covers around 80% of their range.
An abrupt ban feeds the illegal market
A fast-growing illegal and cross-border online vape market already exists. A study by the Fraunhofer Institute IIS (commissioned by SKR AG, March 2026) estimates the European irregular vape market at around EUR 6.6 billion in 2026, with roughly 48% being irregular and expected growth to around EUR 10.8 billion by 2030. In Belgium, FPS Public Health seized 140,019 illegal disposable vapes in 2025 alone. Scrapping half of today's legal bestsellers overnight, with no transition, pushes consumers towards unregulated products - counterproductive for public health and unfair to those who did notify correctly.
The authorities already know the impact
Through EUCEG, FPS Public Health knows the full composition of every product; through the annual sales reporting, it knows the sales figures per product. The authorities can therefore calculate exactly what share of market and revenue is affected. Ignorance is not a valid argument, and FPS Public Health itself kept the comment non-blocking for thirteen months.
A correction, not a confrontation
None of these requests weakens the protection of public health. They make the policy coherent, predictable and legally clean. Align the date, provide a fair transition and choose the right instrument. The same products, one deadline: 28 is 28.
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