Tag: Netherlands

Dutch Investigate PMI Over Smoke-Free ‘Ad’

Photo: Arkadiusz Fajer
The Dutch food safety body NVWA is investigating a campaign by Philip Morris International (PMI) to promote smoke-free alternatives, reports DutchNews.
PMI has launched a new website for the products and promoted it with a page advert in the Telegraaf at the weekend. In that advert, the company said Dutch smokers have the right to information about smoke-free alternatives.
While not mentioning the products by name, the advertisement does include the company’s brand name. Advertising tobacco products is illegal in the Netherlands.
The NVWA investigation follows complaints by anti-smoking groups. If found to have broken the ban, PMI could be fined up to €450,000 ($546,010).
May 7, 2021
Video: Arrests in Anti-Counterfeit Operation
An international law enforcement operation involving the Netherlands, Poland and Europol has resulted in the arrest of 30 members of a prolific organized crime gang flooding Europe with millions of counterfeit cigarettes.
According to Europol, 94 tons of tobacco and 5.4 million counterfeit cigarettes have been removed from circulation following this international sweep. This gang is also believed to be involved in violent robberies.
This operation was carried out in the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats.
Code-named operation PITBUUL, this operation took part in two phases. A first action day was carried out in the Netherlands at the end of March. Two illegal factories were dismantled in the Dutch cities of Schaijk and Heerlen with a production capacity of more than 1 million cigarettes per day, which equates to a tax loss of over €243,000 ($294,521) per day per factory.
A total of 21 Polish and Ukrainian workers were arrested on-site, and 5.4 million counterfeit cigarettes were seized alongside 40 tons of raw tobacco and 800 kilos of hookah tobacco.
A second action day was carried out in Poland last week to arrest the criminal masterminds running this gang. On this occasion, Polish law enforcement raided a dozen of addresses across the country. As a result, nine individuals were arrested and 54 tons of tobacco were seized alongside machinery used for the production of cigarettes. Officers also seized firearms and weapons alongside clothing resembling police uniforms, radio communication devices and signal jammers. According to initial estimates, the loss to the Polish budget is estimated in excess of €11 million.
Europol supported this case by organizing operational meetings, facilitating the exchange of information between the different countries involved and analyzing the operational data to identify the main targets. Its experts were deployed both in the Netherlands and in Poland to support the national authorities on the spot.
The investigation is still ongoing to try to find potential links to other European countries.
April 29, 2021
Illegal Cigarette Factory Dismantled in Denmark
Police arrested 13 individuals for smuggling counterfeit cigarettes from a clandestine factory in Denmark to the United Kingdom, reports Europol.
A timely exchange of intelligence via Europol between the Danish, Dutch and Polish investigators facilitated the investigation carried out in the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats.
On March 2, law enforcement officers dismantled an illegal cigarette factory in Vamdrup. This is the first illegal cigarette factory to be dismantled in Denmark. Police arrested 13 individuals of Polish and Ukrainian nationality and confiscated 11 million cigarettes alongside 11 tons of raw tobacco and a full production line.
Forensic analysis is still ongoing to quantify the factory’s exact production capacity, which is presumably several million cigarettes per week.
The value of the seized tobacco products on the illegal market in the United Kingdom is believed to be in the region of €13 million ($15.5 million).
The action in Denmark led to another one in the Netherlands that same week. Investigators of the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service searched the premises of a warehouse in Ospel. Eight pallets of contraband cigarettes stored in maritime containers were seized, worth close to €1 million in the destination market.
The cigarettes produced in Denmark were shipped to the U.K. via the Netherlands.
March 12, 2021
Dutch Urged to Ditch Planned Flavor Ban
Photo: Laboko – Dreamstime.com
A recently proposed ban on vaping flavors in the Netherlands will endanger public health, according to the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA).
Around 65 percent of adult vapers in Europe use fruit or sweet liquids. According to the IEVA, the variety of flavors is one of the most important reasons for smokers to switch to e-cigarettes and for vapers not to go back to smoking.
Ignoring this fact, the Dutch State Secretary Paul Blokhuis announced a ban on all e-cigarette flavours except tobacco flavors in the Netherlands, to discourage youth smoking.
“This measure risks very negative consequences for public health and tobacco harm reduction,” the IEVA wrote in a statement. “With only tobacco flavors left, vapers’ threshold to relapse on tobacco smoking dangerously lowers.”
A public consultation on the plan will run until Jan.19, 2021. The vast majority of the comments so far come from vapers and scientists who reject the government’s plan.
According to the IEVA, the Dutch plan ignores important facts:
The number of young people in the Netherlands who have ever tried e-cigarettes has decreased by a quarter in the past five years.
Only 0.2 percent of 14-16 olds in the Netherlands vaped regularly in 2019.
8 percent of all Dutch users of e-cigarettes come from smoking.
“Removing flavours will not affect the rates of youth cigarette use,” said Riccardo Polosa, professor of internal medicine and specialist of respiratory diseases and clinical immunology at the University of Catania. “But, it will certainly reduce the number of options available for those adults who seek to quit smoking for good and find flavoured e-cigs effective.”
The IEVA also expressed concern about the impact of the Dutch flavor ban on the debate at the Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which is scheduled to take place in November in The Hague.
“Implementing the ban on flavorings could have negative effects on the conference,” cautioned IEVA Chairman Dustin Dahlmann. “Rather, COP9 should pay attention to the topic of harm reduction through e-cigarettes, so that the number of smokers worldwide could be significantly reduced”
“Flavour is not a gateway to youth uptake of smoking. No evidence substantiates the association between vaping flavours and subsequent smoking initiation. We call on the Dutch government to drop this plan. There are no winners in a flavor ban, only losers.”
January 15, 2021
Dutch Supermarkets to Ban Cigarette Sales

Photo: Pexels from Pixabay
The Netherlands will ban the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in supermarkets from 2024, reports Reuters.
Together with a ban on cigarette vending machines from 2022, the supermarket ban will remove around 11,000 of the current 16,000 tobacco vending points in the country, the government said on Friday.
Supermarkets currently make up 55 percent of all tobacco sales in the Netherlands.
Since 2008, smoking has been prohibited in bars and restaurants. Earlier this year, all smoking areas at train stations were removed, while office buildings need to follow suit by 2022.
Around 22 percent of all Dutch aged 18 and above smoked on a regular basis last year, according to health research institute Trimbos, down from 26 percent in 2014.
Last month, the Netherlands introduced plain packaging for tobacco products. Supermarkets were already required to place tobacco products in closed cabinets, out of sight of potential customers.
November 23, 2020
Dutch Authorities Raid Illegal Tobacco Factory

Photo: Europol
The investigation service of the Dutch tax authorities, FIOD, raided an illegal tobacco factory near Utrecht in the Netherlands, according to Europol. It is one of the largest illegal cigarette factories uncovered in the Netherlands. The factory was in full operation when law enforcement entered the premises. Thirteen suspects were arrested comprising mostly of nationals from Eastern Europe. Investigators seized 3.6 million cigarettes and 32,000 kilos of tobacco along with packaging material, cigarette paper, filters and glue. The tax loss prevented to the Dutch state revenue for the illegal production is estimated at €6 million ($7.04 million).
Supported by Europol, this operation is the result of cross-border cooperation between the Dutch authorities and Ukrainian State Border Guard Service.
In general, illegally processing and producing tobacco is dispersed across multiple facilities so criminals can spread the risk, according to Europol. In this case, the entire production cycle took place in one factory. The factory was in a rural warehouse allowing the criminals to go unnoticed with their illegal activities. Dutch authorities estimated that the machinery could potentially produce 1 million cigarettes a day. The production is believed to have been destined for the black market in countries where the retail price of cigarettes is high. The factory is presumed to have produced 18 million illegal cigarettes seized abroad in recent months.
Europol’s Analysis Project Smoke dedicated to investigating the unlawful manufacturing and smuggling of excise goods supported the investigation. The exchange of information between law enforcement authorities and the analysis of operational data contributed to the identification of the potential location of the factory. Links established with recent seizures of tobacco in other countries helped further the investigation.
FIOD is also an active member of the ongoing special operational taskforce set up in 2018 between Europol and Member States to tackle top organized crime groups facilitating the supply of tobacco, machinery, skilled workers and non-tobacco material to illicit factories.
October 16, 2020
Netherlands Mandates Plain Packaging

Cigarettes sold in the Netherlands must now have plain packaging consisting only of the brand name, the type of cigarette (in a specific font) and health warnings.

Current stock can continue being sold for a year, but any new products must have plain packaging.

The Dutch government has indicated that this is to help curb underage smoking, noting that the measure has worked in other countries, such as Belgium, France, Great Britain and Norway.
October 5, 2020
Netherlands: Tobacco Prices up 20 percent

Photo: Ralf Gervink from Pixabay
Tobacco prices in the Netherlands increased by nearly one-fifth this year as the government inches toward its goal of a €10 ($11.77) pack of cigarettes, reports DutchNews.

The 2020 increase is down to two tax increases, taking the price of a pack of cigarettes to around €8.20. A further rise of €0.12 cents will take place on Jan. 1, 2021.

Smokers still account for 22 percent of the Dutch population. Some 35,000 people a year die from the effects of smoking, being overweight or problem-drinking in the Netherlands.

The government aims to reduce the share of smokers and problem drinkers to 5 percent and the share of overweight people to 38 percent by 2040.
August 12, 2020
Dutch Plan to Ban Flavored Vapor in 2021

The Netherlands plans to ban flavored vapor products beginning sometime next year. The goal is to make vaping less attractive to young people, the government said on Tuesday.
Flavors currently available range from mojito and strawberry ice cream to mango and chocolate, the government said. With its sweet tastes and perceived lower health risks, vaping has rapidly become popular among young non-smokers, who are often seen to use them as a stepping stone to regular tobacco products, according to an article from Reuters.
“It is unacceptable that 20,000 people die every year in our country from the effects of smoking and that every day around 75 kids start smoking”, deputy health minister Paul Blokhuis said. “The smoke-free generation we see coming also needs to be free of electronic cigarettes.”
The government will refine the tobacco law to include the ban on flavored e-cigarettes, which is likely to take effect in the first half of next year, the government said. Tobacco-flavored vaping products will remain available, mainly to help regular smokers kick their habit, it said.
A Dutch government report in 2017 said that over a quarter of people aged 12-16 said they had tried vaping at least once. Electronic cigarettes and water pipes have been banned in the Netherlands for anyone under the age of 18 since 2016.
June 23, 2020
Dutch Considering Tougher Stance on Vaping

Health officials in the Netherlands are considering a stricter approach to electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). Junior health minister Paul Blokhuis has told MPs he is considering extra legislation to limit the use of e-cigarettes following research which shows they are widely used by teenagers.
Electronic cigarettes are more dangerous to health than first thought and are seen by teenagers as a first step to smoking real cigarettes, according to a new fact sheet produced by the Trimbos addiction clinic on behalf of the health ministry, according to a story on dutchnews.nl.
Fifteen years after they first came on the market, some 3.1 percent of Dutch adults now use an e-cigarette on occasion, Trimbos said. Their use is largely seen as a way to stop smoking cigarettes, although almost three quarters of users still smoke in the traditional way, according to the story.
However, the organisation also stated that the health of the Dutch would be best served if the use of e-cigarettes is restricted to hardened smokers who cannot stop using other tried methods. “The new Trimbos insights raise questions about introducing additional legislation,” Blokhuis said in his briefing to MPs. The minister will now study the research in more detail and, according to the Telegraaf, a ban on flavourings is one of the options being considered.
May 15, 2020