Many tobacco and electronic cigarette product manufacturer neglected their payments in 2023

Manufacturers and importers of tobacco and electronic cigarette products must submit a product notification to the EU’s common reporting portal and pay a notification fee before placing a new product on the market. Of all manufacturers and importers of tobacco products, including cigarettes and cigars, 62% paid their notification fee in Finland last year. The situation is much worse in electronic cigarettes given that 86% of manufacturers and importers failed to pay their notification fee. 

Manufacturers and importers of tobacco products and certain other products, including electronic cigarettes, must also annually provide the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) with information about product sales volumes in Finland and pay sales volume fees. Of all manufacturers and importers of tobacco products, 67% both reported their sales volumes and paid their sales volume fees in 2023. Of all economic operators in the tobacco industry, 33% did not report their sales volumes in 2023. With regard to electronic cigarettes, only 28% of manufacturers and importers reported their sales volumes and paid their sales volume fees, while 72% did not report any sales volumes. In terms of tobacco, large and medium-sized companies took care of their obligations and payments better than smaller companies. In electronic cigarettes, large companies also often neglected their reporting and payment obligations. 

According to the supervisory authority’s estimate, unreceived product notification and sales volume fees totalled approximately EUR 350,000 in 2023. To collect payments more effectively, Valvira proposes the reporting obligation laid down in the Tobacco Act to be replaced by a licence procedure, in which a product can only be placed on the market in Finland after licence fees have been paid. “In this case, the supervisory authority would have better opportunities to be more proactive and supervise compliance with law of tobacco products. Manufacturers and importers that place products on the market in Finland would be responsible for licensing costs,” says Head of Unit Kari Kunnas in the “Vieraskynä” article published today in Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish).

Currently, the reporting portal includes 12,834 tobacco and similar products that have been placed on the Finnish market. Of these, 549 are tobacco products and 12,285 electronic cigarettes or other products. At the beginning of the year, 305 new products were reported, of which 13 were tobacco products and 292 were electronic cigarettes. 

Read more

Read more about submitting product information on our website.

Further information:

Kari Kunnas, Head of Unit, +358 295 209 610