The Netherlands Should Not Expand Its Failed Plain Packaging Rules To Life-Saving E-Cigarettes

The government of the Netherlands is considering plain packaging rules (PPRs) for vapor nicotine products. These rules prohibit any kind of visually appealing material from appearing on a product’s container that consumers would see, including trademarked symbols that companies legally own. Despite its name, plain packaging often functions to make space for graphically disgusting material that governments force onto containers made for public viewing. These kinds of regulations have serious and unintended negative consequences for regulators to consider before advancing.  

Firstly, they don't work very well. While advocates point to surveys showing that people like seeing colorful designs more than diseased flesh, evidence suggests that PPRs did not significantly reduce household spending on tobacco in Australia, and even may have slightly increased it. This is plausible: plain packaging makes products harder to distinguish from one another, which helps illegal and counterfeit ones blend in. That makes them easier to distribute and access, causing them to further proliferate, increasing overall consumption.  

Since they lack regulatory oversight by definition, illicit products are able to ignore age-compliance rules and quality control. This puts consumers at risk of fraud and deception, faulty or contaminated products, and underage sales. Commentators have blamed nicotine vapor products in general for problems created by a few contaminated, illegal ones. This misses the point. The risk arises from underground products, not from letting people access effective ones shown to be 95% safer than cigarettes. Thus, plain packaging rules expose consumers to more risk, not less.

Plain packaging rules also threaten legitimate businesses by preventing them from achieving brand recognition. Companies that innovate safer and more effective products face higher investment costs. This earns them a positive reputation, for which their brand serves as an important signal. Without it, companies cannot recoup their investment and will either lower their quality to compete with cheaper products, or exit the market entirely. PPRs punish honest businesses for supplying consumers with healthier solutions.

Prohibiting people from exhibiting their trademarks also violates intellectual property rights, which are fundamental to enterprise and are guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Articles 17, 19, and 27 outline the rights to ownership, expression, and the protection of material interests, respectively. These are clearly violated by plain packaging mandates.  

Cancer researchers have emphasized that vaping is a safer alternative to combustible tobacco and serves as a vital tool for cigarette cessation. Limiting access to vapor products worsens the already-pervasive issue of tobacco mortality in the Netherlands. Plain packaging requirements deprive people of their right to free expression and ownership, disincentivizing productive behavior. This lowers access to higher-quality cessation products, putting people at risk, exacerbating a serious public health problem.