Vape Business Ireland welcomes vape excise in Budget 2025
VBI supports the introduction of an excise duty on vapes in Budget 2025 but warns that inadequate enforcement and a proposed ban on flavours could fuel black market activity and impact small retailers
Print1 October 2024
Vape Business Ireland (VBI), the national trade association for vaping retailers, has welcomed the announcement of an excise on vapes by Minister of Finance, Jack Chambers TD, in Budget 2025.
VBI has long called for an excise on vapes in line with what we see with our European counterparts, and appropriate oversight over the market is vital as more and more people use vapes to quit smoking.
Inadequate resources
However, regulation is only as good as its enforcement, and VBI is concerned that there are inadequate resources in place to ensure effective enforcement and the clamping down on bad actors.
In its recent pre-Budget submission, VBI called for the introduction of an excise duty in line with EU standards, proposing a figure between 10 and 30 cent per ml of e-liquid.
VBI believes that this measure is needed to get control over the black market by establishing an excise framework.
The submission also said that this regime ‘must involve consultation time for the industry, adequate stakeholder notification and lead in time for rollout, be properly enforced and put minimal burdens on small retailers.’
Black market activity
However, VBI has also warned that the Government’s plans to ban flavours and flavour descriptors would result in an increase in black market activity, which Minister Chambers said had been considered when fleshing out the details of the new tax over the weekend.
“As a responsible retailer, I agree with the measures announced by the Minister to improve the oversight and administration of vaping products,” said Paul Malone, spokesperson, Vape Business Ireland.
However, enforcement is crucial, and retailers would like to see a clamp down on unsafe product and black-market activity.
Ban on flavours
Malone is equally worried that the Government’s plans to ban flavours and disposables would result in an increase in such black-market activity, as happened in Australia, Denmark and Estonia, where similar restrictions were enacted.
“While we welcome the Government’s announcement in the Budget, we do have concerns that Ireland may be straying into overregulation and damaging the future viability of SMEs as a result,” concluded Malone.
Earlier this year, VBI outlined a framework for the regulation of vaping in Ireland via a report, which was entitled ‘Supporting local retailers, helping smokers to quit: A blueprint for sensible vaping regulation in Ireland.’
Read more: Budget 2025: Main measures that affect the Irish grocery retail industry
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