France's vapers and vape shops have dodged a blow, at least for now. The draft 2027 budget submitted to the National Assembly on 1 October 2026 contains no new tax on vaping products, and the accompanying social security financing bill is equally silent. Neither document mentions vaping, e-liquids, nicotine, electronic cigarettes, or tobacco at all. There is no new tobacco tax in the initial text either.
A different script from last year
The calm is a sharp contrast with last autumn. The draft 2026 budget, tabled in October 2025, went hard at vaping: a tax of €0.03 to €0.05 per ml of e-liquid depending on nicotine strength, a ban on online sales of vaping products, and mandatory accreditation for specialist retailers. The pushback was fierce. A November 2025 petition to the National Assembly demanded the measures be scrapped, warning of damage to specialist retailers and consumer access, and claiming more than 20,000 jobs were linked to the sector (a figure that was not independently verified). In the end, those provisions were removed from the adopted 2026 finance bill.
| Measure | 2026 draft (Oct 2025) | 2027 draft (Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| E-liquid tax of €0.03-€0.05/ml | Proposed | Not included |
| Ban on online vape sales | Proposed | Not included |
| Mandatory retailer accreditation | Proposed | Not included |
| New tobacco tax | Unclear | Not included |
The debate starts today
Nobody in the French vape trade is celebrating yet, and for good reason. Parliamentary debates begin 13 October 2026, and amendments can still insert vape measures into the text. The realistic entry points are Articles 19 (tax rules), 30, or 32 of the draft, plus behavioural-taxation provisions in the social security financing bill, the same machinery that carried last year's proposals. Until the bill is adopted, the omission is a reprieve, not a decision.
For context on how vaping duties work elsewhere, see our UK vape tax guide. Price shifts matter to buyers too, so our e-liquid price guide breaks down what vapers actually pay across markets.
Source: Clearing the Air, report of 12 October 2026 on the draft budget documents, citing assemblee-nationale.fr.