Belgium Approves Ban on Flavored Vapes to Protect Youth From Addiction

Belgium's federal government on Thursday approved a ban on flavored vapes, with only tobacco-flavored and unflavored e-cigarettes allowed on the market from September 2028. Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke framed the move as a direct attempt to curb youth addiction. "We want to protect the health of our children and young people and prevent a new generation from becoming dependent on tobacco," he said in a press statement. "With their attractive flavors, vapes are deliberately designed to lure young people into smoking. That is unacceptable and it must stop." He went further, slamming vaping as "an invention of a criminal industry" that masks harmful substances behind flavors like "mint, apple, popcorn or raspberry." The measure brings Belgium in line with the Netherlands, which already restricts e-cigarettes to tobacco flavor only. A Dutch study by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) suggests the policy has had an impact: Nearly two-fifths of users cut back, while more than one in five quit entirely. Belgium's move follows a November 2025 recommendation from its Superior Health Council to sharply reduce allowed flavors, with youth protection taking priority over adult preferences. The ban builds on an earlier crackdown. Belgium was the first EU country to outlaw disposable vapes at the end of 2024 and tightened rules on where smoking and vaping are allowed, part of a broader push toward a smoke-free generation by 2040. Other EU countries followed suit, with Slovenia already adopting a comparable flavor ban in May 2024. Belgium will now notify the European Commission, and aims for the rules to take effect on September 1, 2028.