By Timothy S. Donahue

Top Takeaways:

• Lifetime Restriction: Anyone born Jan. 1, 2009 or later would never become eligible to buy tobacco.
• Broad Coverage: Cigarettes, cigars, rolling tobacco and heated tobacco would be affected, but tobacco-free vapes would not.
• Legislative Hurdles: The proposal faces further votes and possible constitutional challenges.

France wants to ban all tobacco sales in the country within 90 days.

The National Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee approved an amendment on Oct. 15 that would permanently prohibit tobacco sales to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, starting in 2027. The proposal mirrors Britain’s generational tobacco ban, which takes effect on the same date.

Introduced by Green Party lawmaker Nicolas Thierry, the amendment would extend France’s existing tobacco definitions to cover cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, rolling and pipe tobacco, waterpipe tobacco, and heated-tobacco products. Tobacco-free e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches are not included in the amendment.

Retailers violating the restriction would face a proposed social contribution of 5% of their turnover from manufactured tobacco sales, with proceeds directed to France’s national health insurance system.

“The United Kingdom and the Maldives have done it. There’s no reason we can’t do it,” Green Party lawmaker Marie-Charlotte Garin said during committee discussions.

The proposal faces significant hurdles. The committee rejected the broader Social Security financing bill on Oct. 16, requiring the amendment to be reconsidered when the National Assembly begins plenary debate on Oct. 20. It would also need Senate approval and could face constitutional scrutiny.

Thibault Bazin, the committee’s general rapporteur, warned that France’s Constitutional Council could strike down the restriction as an unrelated provision in a budget bill, potentially leaving the financial penalty in place.

Britain’s Tobacco and Vapes Act received Royal Assent on April 29, establishing the same Jan. 1, 2009, birth cutoff. The UK law covers tobacco products, including heated tobacco, as well as herbal smoking products and cigarette papers. Vapes and tobacco-free nicotine products face separate restrictions rather than the lifetime sales prohibition.

If enacted, France’s measure would place another major European tobacco market on a path toward eliminating legal tobacco sales to future generations.

The proposal would not cover tobacco-free nicotine pouches, which France already banned nationwide in April. That separate prohibition extends beyond sales to include possession, use, manufacturing, and imports.

The restrictions have drawn opposition from Sweden and other European countries, and France’s Council of State has referred questions about their compatibility with EU law to the European Union’s highest court.