Objectives

Make nicotine products a thing from the past

Youth Smoking Prevention wants to make nicotine addiction history by ensuring that children do not start using nicotine products.

To achieve this, Youth Smoking Prevention advocates in the Dutch political arena for:

• Excise duty on all nicotine products
• structural increase in excise duty
• reduction in the number of points of sale
• improved enforcement of all tobacco laws
• a licensing system for tobacco sales (see: Position on the licensing system in Dutch)
• a tobacco addiction fund (see: Position on the tobacco addiction fund in Dutch)
• a generational ban on the sale of nicotine (see: nicotinee.nl)

With the European Union, Youth Smoking Prevention advocates for a uniform regulatory framework for all nicotine products. Instead of separate rules for different nicotine products, there should be general rules for nicotine contents, flavours, packaging, excise duties and advertising and marketing. This prevents European legislation from always lagging behind the introduction of new nicotine products. See: Position Paper TPD and Position Paper TTD.

What Youth Smoking Prevention has achieved so far

Continuity and consistency of the message are an important strength of Youth Smoking Prevention, which since 2009 has been fighting against an industry that wants to make children addicted to nicotine as early as possible. Courage and creativity in the approach always provide new attention. With Wanda de Kanter and Pauline Dekker as figureheads and the website TabakNee as a platform for unmasking the tobacco lobby, Youth Smoking Prevention has acquired a strong position in Dutch society.

With effect: since 2009, a lot has changed in tobacco policy and public opinion about the tobacco industry. Partly under pressure from Youth Smoking Prevention, a lot has changed in the Netherlands:

• raising the age limit for the sale of tobacco to 18 years (2014); The current cabinet will further raise the age limit to 21 years
• protocol for dealing with tobacco industry by officials (FCTC Article 5.3)
• excise duty increases
• standard packaging for cigarettes introduced
• ban on tobacco vending machines, display ban in shops, ban on online sales (2023), ban on supermarket sales (2024)
• tightening the advertising ban
• Smoke-Free Generation 2040 is government policy
• flavour ban on e-cigarettes introduced
• nicotine pouches banned in the Netherlands
• rigged cigarette declared illegal by court (later unfortunately reversed by CBb).

It therefore demonstrably helps to continue to insist on the need to further restrict the nicotine industry and eventually make it disappear. At the same time, it is also clear that the battle is far from over. The global vape and nicotine pouch hypes shows how the industry is constantly coming up with new avenues. That is why Youth Smoking Prevention must continue the fight unabated.

Money is needed for that. Support Youth Smoking Prevention via the buttons on the homepage or via the donation page (in Dutch).

Articles of association

The Articles of Association of the Youth Smoking Prevention Foundation were adopted when the foundation was established on 31 March 2009.