From 17th November 2016 until 16th February 2017, the EU Commission carried out an EU-wide survey on the reorganization of the taxation of tobacco and related products. As vaping products are also listed and regulated within the TPD2, they have been included in the survey.
IG-ED e.V. have reported several times (articles are in German):
- https://ig-ed.org/2017/01/ein-europa-24-sprachen/
- https://ig-ed.org/2017/01/ein-europa-24-sprachen-teil2/
- https://ig-ed.org/2017/02/ig-ed-stellungnahme-zu-steuern-auf-e-dampfprodukte/
The results of the EU-Consultation can be downloaded here:
https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/8cc03706-3d5b-4eb5-972d-16605d859f71/Statistics_Export_Tobacco_excise_Tobacco_final.pdf
Conclusion: the majority of citizens reject a tax on vaping products!
Details: 
A total of 7686 persons, NGOs, companies and government offices participated and voted.
The majority of responses was generated by 7317 (95.2%) private individuals.
Only 81 non-governmental organizations (NGO) took part, representing a total of 1.05% of the participants.
Answering the question, "Are you a smoker or e-cigarette consumer?" 5580 persons (72.6%) voted with YES, 5203 of which are vapers.
The EU Consultation was designed for all member states of the EU. In relation to this, citizen participation was not as high as one would expect. One of the reasons might have been the language barrier: the consultation was offered in English only. IG-ED e.V. and INNCO objected to this with the EU right at the beginning of the hearing period and demanded to offer the consultation in all EU languages but to no avail!
Thus, 72 per cent of the participation stemmed from only three EU countries:
- 40.48% from Germany with 3111 votes
- 23.8% from Poland with 1829 votes and
- 8.44% from Great Britain with 649 votes
The fact that only few votes came from Great Britain, the leading country in the promotion of vaping products in relation to public health, is most likely due to the imminent Brexit. We assume that a lot of vapers in Great Britain are Brexiters and are done with EU related stuff.
The consultation’s central question for vapers was:
“In your opinion, should electronic cigarettes and refill containers be subject to excise duties?”
- YES - 137 votes (1,78%)
- Only e-liquids containing nicotine - 475 votes (6,18%)
- NO - 6908 votes (89,88%)
- Don’t know - 50 votes (0,65%)
- No answer - 116 (1,51%)
This result clearly shows that the majority of the participants do not want an additional consumption tax on vaping products!
Though the nearly 90% votes against a tax is no surprise, the EU Commission should recognize the explosive nature of such a tax, respect the citizens’ will and act accordingly. Given that the consultation was released in English only, citizens’ participation can be classed as unusually high.
“To impose a tax on a product which can contribute to the reduction of tobacco consumption, but also and more importantly, to the reduction of known damages caused by continued tobacco consumption, contradicts the principle of preventive health care to which the EU has committed itself”, says Volkmar Stendel, the first chairman of Interessengemeinschaft E-Dampfen (IG-ED e.V.). IG-ED e.V. is the German Consumers' Association which has been providing professional and fact-based information on vaping since 2011, harnessing all opportunities to educate both politicians and the public at large about the advantages of vaping.
Click here for the german text.