Nicotine Pouches in Switzerland

Switzerland brought nicotine pouches inside federal statute with the Tobacco Products Act (Tabakproduktegesetz, TabPG, SR 818.32), in force on 1 October 2024.

Article 3 letter d defines a nicotine product for oral use as a nicotine-containing product, with or without tobacco, that comes into contact with the oral mucosa when consumed and is intended neither for smoking nor for heating. Letter a folds that definition into tobacco product, so a tobacco-free pouch carries the whole of the Act.

Article 23 paragraph 1 prohibits supplying tobacco products to minors. The Act says minors rather than printing a number; majority in Switzerland is 18, so the age of sale is 18 everywhere. Before this Act the age was a cantonal matter and differed across the country.

Article 18 restricts advertising, and Article 26 requires anyone manufacturing or importing a product to notify the Federal Office of Public Health within a year of placing it on the market.

Swiss law sets no nicotine limit for pouches. The Ordinance (TabPV, SR 818.321) does cap nicotine at 20 mg/g in Article 7 — but that article names products for snuffing and tobacco-free waterpipe products, not products for oral use. The 20 mg/g figure is often quoted for Swiss pouches; it belongs to a different category of product.