According to media reports, a leaked European Commission document indicates the EU plans to push for its strictest regulatory framework on nicotine and tobacco products at COP11 in Switzerland this November, including measures such as a full ban on nicotine pouches and flavoured products.

As global delegates prepare for COP11, a leaked EU position paper has sparked fresh debate over the future of nicotine pouch regulation. In an exclusive op-ed submitted to 2Firsts, Dr. Nveed Chaudhary, Chair of GINN’s Scientific Committee, argues that banning nicotine pouches would be a profound public health mistake—one that ignores harm reduction science and risks reversing global progress in smoking cessation.

The European Union will abstain from voting at the upcoming 11th session of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (COP11) in Geneva, following months of internal disagreement over how to regulate tobacco and nicotine products. The decision marks a rare and public fracture in EU health policy, reportedly driven by the European Commission’s hardline anti-tobacco stance.

More than 1,400 delegates from 162 Parties convened in Geneva on November 17 for the Eleventh Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus opened the session with a stark warning: tobacco and nicotine companies are targeting schools as the “new front line” to recruit a generation of addicts through e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.