Plain packaging and the electronic cigarette: what MPs want to change in 2026

Vaping could soon reach another turning point in France. After conventional cigarettes, some members of parliament now want to apply the plain packaging principle to vaping products, in particular to electronic cigarettes and e-liquids.

The stated aim is clear: to reduce the commercial appeal of nicotine products, especially among young consumers. It is a proposal that reopens the debate between public health, commercial freedom and the future of the vaping sector.

Towards standardised packaging for vaping products

Plain packaging means removing the marketing features visible on packs: colours, logos, distinctive typefaces and attractive images. Products would instead be presented in a uniform format, with regulatory and health information given prominence.

Already applied to conventional cigarettes, the principle could therefore be extended to vaping products containing nicotine. The e-liquids, bottles, cartridges and devices concerned would lose much of their current visual identity.

Why are vaping products being targeted?

For several years the public authorities have been concerned about the appeal of the electronic cigarette to young people. Fruity or sweet flavours, or those modelled on confectionery, combined with colourful packaging, are regularly singled out.

For supporters of plain packaging, these marketing features can make nicotine use seem ordinary and encourage minors or young adults to start vaping.

By making packaging uniform, the members of parliament in favour of the measure hope to limit the pull of brands and to refocus attention on the risks associated with nicotine.

A measure that divides the sector

The idea of plain packaging for vaping is not unanimously supported. For those who defend it, it is one more tool to protect young people and to keep a tighter rein on nicotine products.

Vaping professionals, however, see it as questionable. Many fear that vaping and tobacco will be treated as one and the same, when the electronic cigarette is often presented as an alternative for smokers wanting to cut down or give up conventional cigarettes.

Specialist shops and manufacturers also fear a loss of differentiation between brands, an impact on product innovation and economic consequences for the whole industry.

A wider debate on the regulation of vaping

The proposal comes against a background of gradual tightening around nicotine products. Flavours, advertising, sales to minors, taxation and now packaging: vaping is at the heart of many political and health discussions today.

The subject remains a complex one, however. On one side, the authorities want to prevent vaping from becoming a way into nicotine dependence. On the other, some in the sector point out that vaping can, in their view, play a part in reducing risks for adult smokers.

The main points

Extending plain packaging to vaping products would mark a significant change in the way the electronic cigarette is governed in France.

Were the measure to be adopted, it would profoundly change how e-liquids and vaping devices are presented, in shops as well as online.

For now, the debate remains open. Between protecting young people, public health and the defence of an alternative to tobacco, the rules on vaping continue to change and should remain a sensitive subject in the coming months.