The Canary Islands will tax vaping and electronic cigarettes to prevent the initiation of the habit among young people

The Canary Islands will, with this, be the first Spanish community where specific taxes on this type of productsuntil the central government predictably does so in a generic manner for the rest of the autonomous regions.

The Canary archipelago, which is the only autonomous community in the country with direct powers in this regard, has adapted the fiscal recommendations issued by both the European Union and the central government.

In fact, in the same direction, with different amounts, the majority of EU States have legislated as Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Slovenia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania and Sweden.

Whether or not they have nicotine, to prevent

In this way, the regional executive will charge the liquids of vapers and any device that has or does not have nicotine, with the aim of making access difficult, especially for young people, and preventing initiation into the habit.

And the latest Survey on drug use in secondary education in Spain (Estudes) 2023 shows a high increase in the number of students who have tried electronic cigarettes at least once, reaching the 54 percent, compared to 44.3 percent in the previous data from 2021. More than half of them have done so with products that do not include nicotine.

In 2020, the EU Council issued a recommendation on these new tobacco products or tobacco substitutes, “regardless of whether or not they contain nicotine”, ensuring that it was “urgent and necessary to update the regulatory framework” of the member countries to avoid “legal uncertainty and the presence of regulatory disparities.”

At the moment the impact on the collection in the Canary Islands public coffers is unknown, although according to the forecasts of the Ministry of Health in its report ‘Review on the taxation of electronic cigarettes: European regulation and possible scenarios for Spain’ the increase in public income throughout the country could swing between 7 and 48 million euros, depending on the load chosen.

Own tax category

The text of the new Canarian regulation creates its own category for electronic cigarette liquids and also another for heated tobacco products, which will also have a specific taxation, although These were already taxable as they were included in the heading of ‘other tobacco products’.

With this, heated tobacco will be charged with a tax of 28 euros per kilo of tobacco. Due to the amount of tobacco, most European countries also do so, such as Portugal, France, Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia or Greece.

Update of the rest of the encumbrances

Furthermore, the new Canarian text updates the taxes for most products, passing in the case of cigars and cigarillos the 2 percent to 4 percent or in the case of other tobacco products from 5 to 10 percent.

In the case of cigarettes, it remains at 37 euros per 1,000 cigarettes in general, or up to 63 euros per 1,000 when the retail price (RPP) is lower than the reference price, although the fiscal equalization process for black tobacco is accelerated, which will be equalized in 2026, when the forecast was 2030.

In the case of blonde hand-rolling tobacco, the amount of the tax remains at 44 euros per kilogramalthough it can be up to 70 euros per kilo if the RRP is lower than the reference, while in the case of the black sting for rolling, which was 14 euros per kilogram or up to 34, it rises to 21 euros per kilo and 51 per kilo maximum.