HEADLINE

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 1259 on October 15, 2026, increasing excise stamp production fees for tobacco products and e-cigarette liquids by approximately 30.5%, from UAH 0.1643 to UAH 0.2144 per stamp. Fees for alcoholic beverages rose by about 30.2%. Separately, Ukraine's parliament passed Bill No. 15532 on October 13, proposing to postpone the full implementation of electronic excise stamps and traceability for alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarette liquids from November 1, 2026, to July 1, 2027. Parliament cited additional testing, configuration and integration requirements. The bill was sent to the president for signature on October 19.

Sweden's Supreme Administrative Court has declined to hear an appeal over age verification for tobacco and nicotine products collected from parcel lockers, leaving in place a lower-court ruling that geo-located BankID verification is insufficient to securely verify the actual recipient. Haypp Group has stopped tobacco and nicotine sales through Snusnetto and is deploying a new system across its other Swedish e-commerce sites to verify the age of the person who actually opens the locker and receives the shipment. The change comes as age verification across next-generation nicotine products expands from purchase checks into retail, delivery and, for some e-cigarettes, device access itself.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has named Jessica Zeller director of the Center for Tobacco Products' (CTP) Office of Compliance and Enforcement (OCE), effective November 1, 2026. Zeller, the office's inaugural deputy director, returns from medical device manufacturer Edwards Lifesciences with more than 20 years of regulatory and legal experience. The appointment follows CTP leadership changes and adjustments to tobacco regulation. Bret Koplow became permanent CTP director in September; the FDA revised enforcement priorities for unauthorized e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches in May and announced faster PMTA review procedures. On September 28, the agency said it would evaluate changes to the existing PMTA regulatory framework, including potential rulemaking to replace it.

Juul Labs UK has introduced an upgraded JUUL2 Starter Kit for the UK market in October 2026, retaining a recommended retail price of £9.99 while doubling the number of included pods from two to four. The kit contains Crisp Menthol, Virginia Tobacco, Mango and Watermelon pods. The updated device replaces the previous proprietary charging dock with a USB-C port and offers longer battery life. The kit also features reduced packaging and retains a two-year limited warranty. Distribution is scheduled through major UK retailers, wholesalers, convenience stores and the JUUL UK website.

Former cigarette smokers accounted for an estimated 54% of current e-cigarette users in Great Britain in 2025, while 26% also smoked cigarettes and 20% had never regularly smoked, according to a 2Firsts analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. Among former cigarette smokers who currently vape, approximately 81% used e-cigarettes daily, compared with about 50% of dual users. The ONS found that 33.8% of current cigarette smokers also vaped in 2025, up from 10.6% in 2014. Approximately 1.1 million adults who had never regularly smoked cigarettes used e-cigarettes, representing 2.9% of that population, compared with 0.2% in 2014. The figures highlight differences in the composition, frequency of use and long-term trends across Britain's vaping population.

The vaping rate among women aged 25 to 34 in Great Britain reached 18.3% in 2025, up from 13.7% in 2024 and 8.3% in 2020, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure was the highest for this group since records began in 2014 and exceeded the 14.4% recorded among men of the same age. Adults aged 25 to 34 also overtook those aged 16 to 24 as the age group with the highest vaping prevalence. Overall, about 5.4 million adults in Great Britain used e-cigarettes in 2025, broadly unchanged from the previous year.

Spain's cigarette volumes declined 5.2% year over year in August 2026, according to government data cited by UBS and reported by Investing.com on October 7. British American Tobacco's volumes fell 14.5%, followed by Imperial Brands at 8.8%, Philip Morris International at 6.6% and Japan Tobacco at 4.6%. JTI was the only one of the four companies to gain cigarette market share, rising six basis points to 26.7%. In France, official customs data showed an unadjusted 3.7% decline in cigarette deliveries. Adjusting for the difference in delivery days produces a decline of approximately 8.3%, consistent with the UBS figure. The bank also estimated the earnings exposure of major tobacco companies to both markets.