Poland

The Polish Parliament approved Amendments to the Act on Excise Duty (the “Act”) which introduced taxes on both electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products.

Revisions to the Act include a new tax category – novel products, a term popularized in the EU’s updated Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2). Novel products are defined in the Act as “a mixture which contains tobacco or raw tobacco” as well as a “separate liquid for electronic cigarettes”.

The tax base for liquid used in electronic cigarettes, both with and without nicotine, is the volume of the liquid expressed in milliliters. The excise rate is set at PLN 0.5 per ml.

The Amendments were approved in December 2017 and the taxes on novel products went into effect in 2018. Initially, however, the rates of excise of novel products were set at zero until December 31, 2018. That deferral has been extended until 30 June 2020 when the rate is scheduled to rise to PLN 0.5 per ml.