Flavoured heated tobacco products to be banned in Northern Ireland but not rest of UK because of Protocol

Northern Ireland must impose an EU ban on flavoured heated tobacco products because of Protocol rules but the cigarette alternatives will still be available in the rest of the UK.

Smokers will be “discriminated against” and have fewer ways to quit traditional smoking because of the EU’s “gross overreaction”, it was warned.

Northern Ireland follows about 300 Single Market rules, including the EU Tobacco Products Directive, under the Brexit agreement to prevent a hard Irish border.

Heated tobacco products such as Phillip Morris’s IQOS and Ploom, which is owned by JTI, are less dangerous than cigarettes but, unlike vaping, which is safer, still use tobacco in their sticks.

Unlike cigarettes, flavours such as menthol are allowed in heated tobacco products, which can’t be advertised or sold to under 18’s in the UK.

The European Commission confirmed the ban will apply in Northern Ireland, as well as in EU member Ireland. The Government said it had no plans to outlaw the products in the rest of the UK.

It is estimated that the EU has adopted more than 4,000 measures changing rules in Northern Ireland since January 2021, when Brexit took legal effect.

Separate new EU rules for charging ports and cables mean Apple iPhone chargers will be banned in Northern Ireland but not in the rest of the UK.

London and Brussels are at loggerheads after the Government brought forward legislation to unilaterally rip up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

“Consumers in Northern Ireland should not be discriminated against. If flavoured heated tobacco products are available in the rest of the UK, smokers in Northern Ireland must have that choice too,” Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said.

“Banning a product that is less harmful than traditional cigarettes would be madness and counter-productive as a public health measure,” he added.

Brussels said there was a 10 per cent rise in sales volumes of the products in half a dozen EU countries, which led to the announcement of the ban on Wednesday.

Use of heated tobacco in the UK is low and has not exceeded 0.5 per cent of adults in the country.

"By removing flavoured heated tobacco from the market we are taking yet another step towards realising our vision under Europe's Beating Cancer Plan to create a ‘Tobacco Free Generation’," EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said.

“There are no current plans to introduce a ban on the sale of flavoured heated tobacco,” a UK Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told the Telegraph.

Brexiteers have argued that leaving the EU would allow the UK to adopt a more common sense approach to regulation than Brussels, which is seen as overly risk averse.

The EU ban will come into force if it is not opposed by EU governments and the European Parliament. Member states will have months to adapt their legislation to the change.

Brussels warns Northern Ireland’s lucrative access to the Single Market could be lost if the country stops following EU rules or the Government rips up the Protocol, which introduced border checks on British goods and animals to ensure they meet EU standards.

Britain has called for a dual regulatory regime to be introduced in Northern Ireland in negotiations to reduce the checks.

This would allow manufacturers to choose whether their products meet UK or EU standards but Brussels has ruled this out because of the risk of unchecked goods crossing into Ireland.

The DUP is refusing to enter power-sharing in Stormont after May 5 elections because of the Protocol, which the UK claims is undermining the Good Friday Agreement.

Most political parties in Northern Ireland support the Protocol, including Sinn Fein, which was the biggest party for the first time after the vote.

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, said the Protocol Bill was "very undemocratic and very disrespectful to people in Northern Ireland" and risked the break-up of the UK.

"We have a British government that doesn’t want to work hand in glove with the Irish Government, that is not even-handed in its dealings with the communities in Northern Ireland, and a government that wants to continue to have rows with the EU even though they’ve left," he told the BBC on Thursday night.