Will I have to start smoking? A woman asks the rhetorical question in a social media group for Swedes living in or visiting Paris.
France's abrupt decision to ban white snuff from April 1 has caused some confusion. One man in the same group says he initially misunderstood the rules and bought a large amount of chewing tobacco.
You can still carry a can of brown snuff in your pocket in France, even if you can't buy it. But the white snuff products that have surged in popularity both there and in Sweden can be punished with fines. Large-scale violations can, at least in theory, lead to imprisonment.
More young people use snus
For many Swedish smokers, white snus has emerged as a slightly less harmful alternative. Swedes smoke the least in the EU, but snus use among Swedish teenagers has skyrocketed.
Foreign Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa (M) has repeatedly accused France of an attack "on the Swedish way of life".
In France, smoking is a major health problem, but the proportion of French people who smoke has fallen as governments have introduced stricter regulations and taxation. White snuff is seen as the tobacco giants' emergency solution to keep people hooked on nicotine.
In short, Sweden's line is to minimize the damage to public health by getting smokers to choose something else. France's line is to not release additional risky products that attract new generations with flavors of cola, tropical fruits and candy.
New rules in the works
The snus battle is part of a larger tobacco war, in which the EU's tobacco directive is set to be updated to include white snus. Intensive lobbying is underway and many interest groups are getting involved in the Franco-Swedish dispute. For both states, it is also about billions in revenue from tobacco or corporate taxes.
The EU Commission wants white snus to be regulated more like other nicotine products, for example by limiting the tempting range of flavours. It also proposes an increased minimum tax on tobacco, which has caused scare headlines in Sweden - but it remains up to Sweden to tax brown snus.
The Swedish government accuses France of overstepping its market boundaries. Instead, it is lobbying for white snus - a growing Swedish export success - to also be exempted.
The issue of the right to use white snus in France will ultimately be decided by the European Court of Justice.
Facts: The snus exemption
Regular brown snus with tobacco is banned from sale in the EU - but not in Sweden. When Sweden joined the union in 1995, an exemption was negotiated that means that snus can be manufactured and sold here, but not exported to other member states.
This also means that Sweden alone regulates the content and taxation of brown snus.
Later products, such as white snus, are currently not covered by the exemption and are not yet regulated by the EU's broad Tobacco Products Directive.
On April 1, 2026, France introduced a total ban on white nicotine products, where possession and consumption can result in fines, and more serious offences such as large-scale smuggling can result in imprisonment.
As white snus and other similar products have exploded in popularity, a number of EU countries have introduced new regulations.
Some countries have stopped all sales (Belgium, Lithuania, the Netherlands and several German states). Several countries have banned or are in the process of banning attractive flavours and colourful cans or introducing caps on nicotine content (Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Spain). In Luxembourg and Spain, the cap is so low that it is in principle tantamount to a ban.
Ireland and Austria are also considering measures.
When countries have notified the rest of the EU of bans, countries such as Greece, Italy, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary have opposed them.
