Tobacco-free nicotine products

If you want to sell tobacco-free nicotine products, you must notify the municipality before you start selling. You must develop a self-monitoring programme appropriate to your business and submit it with your notification.

Notify sales

You must not start selling before you have notified the sale. A self-monitoring programme must also be submitted with your notification. 

You must submit the notification to the municipality where you physical point of sale is located. If you do not have a physical point of sale (in the case of internet sales), you must submit the notification to the municipality where your company has its registered office. If your company has no registered office in the country, the notification must be submitted to the municipality where the company has a permanent operating site. 

The municipality, the Swedish Police and the Public Health Agency of Sweden have supervisory authority. They may charge a supervision fee for those selling tobacco-free nicotine products. For more details on notification, supervision and fees, please contact your municipality.  

If the trader has no registered office or permanent operating site in Sweden, the notification must be made to the Public Health Agency of Sweden.  

Submit your notification and self-monitoring programme to the Public Health Agency of Sweden.  

Supervision 

The Public Health Agency of Sweden supervises the notification of sales and self-monitoring when the trader has no permanent operating site in Sweden.    

 

Requirements 

Anyone selling tobacco-free nicotine products must ensure that their sales comply with the Swedish Act (2022:1257) on Tobacco-free Nicotine Products and the regulations related to this Act.  The requirements include the following:   

  • Anyone selling or giving out tobacco-free nicotine products must ensure that the recipient is at least 18 years old and that the product is not intended to be handed over to anyone under the age of 18.  
  • At the point of sale, there must be a legible and clearly visible notice informing the customer of the prohibition to hand over these products to anyone under the age of 18. 
  • Tobacco-free nicotine products must be labelled with the correct health warnings in accordance with the current regulations.  
  • You must exercise self-monitoring and have a self-monitoring programme appropriate to your business.  

 

Age verification  

You and your staff must not  sell or give out tobacco-free nicotine products to anyone under the age of 18. A guiding principle is to always ask for identification if the customer appears to be under 25 years of age.  

Tobacco-free nicotine products must not be sold if there is a suspicion that the product will be handed over to someone under the age of 18. 

At points of sale, there must be a legible and clearly visible notice informing customers about the 18-year age limit. 

 

Labelling and packaging  

You must not provide consumers with tobacco-free nicotine products that do not comply with the labelling requirements. There must be a declaration of contents in Swedish on the packaging of the product. 

Find out more on the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s website via the link: Guidance for municipalities’ supervision of labelling under the Tobacco Act (in Swedish). 

 

Self-monitoring  

You must keep up-to-date on the regulations for the sale of tobacco-free nicotine products and inform your staff about them. You must also write down how the monitoring of your business activities is carried out. This description is referred to as self-monitoring programme and must be appropriate to your business. 

The self-monitoring programme must contain the procedures at your point of sale for verifying age, marketing and labelling tobacco-free nicotine products, among other things. 

As a trader, you are responsible for deveoping a self-monitoring programme and for ensuring that your staff have sufficient knowledge of the regulations governing sales. The municipality, the Swedish Police and the Public Health Agency of Sweden can inspect your business activities at any time, this is known as supervision. The municipality can also conduct control purchases. For more information, see the link on control purchases.  

Find out more on the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s website via the link: Guidance on self-monitoring programmes (in Swedish). 

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