Lithuania has the highest score in the Nanny State Index of any EU member state. E-cigarettes are not illegal but they might as well be. All e-cigarette favours except tobacco flavour are banned and the tax on vape juice has risen from €0.12 per ml in 2019 to €0.63 per ml in 2025, increasing the price of a standard bottle by a prohibitively expensive €6.30. It also has one of the highest taxes on heated tobacco (€222/kg) and the highest alcohol duty in the EU after adjusting for affordability.

Under the Law on Alcohol Control (2018), Lithuania became the only EU country where people have to be 20 years old to buy any form of alcohol. The legislation also restricted opening times. Alcoholic beverages cannot be sold in shops before 10 am or after 8 pm (3 pm on Sunday); the previous opening times were 8 am to 10 pm. No alcoholic drinks stronger than 13 per cent can be sold in outdoor cafés or at outdoor cultural events. The sale of alcohol at sports events was banned in 2020, but a ban on selling light alcoholic drinks on beaches was lifted in June 2020. Alcohol stronger than 6 per cent cannot be sold in packing smaller than 200 ml.

The sale of alcohol at petrol stations was banned in January 2016 and there has been talk of restricting sales to state-owned shops, as in Finland. Various alcohol promotions, including prizes, coupons, gifts, free samples and discount campaigns were banned in 2016, but Lithuania has taken the assault on marketing several steps further with a total ban on alcohol advertising in all forms, including imported magazines. Customers even have to cover up their alcohol purchases before they leave the shop.

Like Latvia, Lithuania is strangely preoccupied with energy drinks (except coffee). It has been illegal to sell them to people aged under 18 since January 2015 and the advertising of energy drinks is banned in educational institutions, concert or sports venues, theatres, cinemas and in any media aimed at children.

Smoking is banned in most indoor public places and on parts of some beaches. Although smoking rooms are permitted indoors, some municipalities declare certain outdoor public places, such as town squares and bus stops, smoke-free zones. Since January 2021, smoking has been prohibited on the balconies, terraces and loggias of apartment buildings where at least one occupant of the building is opposed to smoking. Almost two years after the ban on smoking in private balconies came into force, municipalities in major cities report that few people have been fined. In the capital of Vilnius, not a single person has been punished for smoking on a balcony.

The Tobacco Products and Related Products Control Law of 2016 subjects e-cigarettes to the same heavy restrictions as tobacco products. Advertising, promotion and sponsorship of e-cigarettes are banned in nearly all venues and media. Vaping is banned in places where smoking is banned. In January 2025, the display of tobacco products and e-cigarettes in convenience stores was banned, although they are still legal in specialised shops so long as they are not visible from the outside. 

The only good news for Lithuanian consumers is that there is no sugar tax, no plain packaging and no minimum pricing. But the way things are going it is only a matter of time.

With thanks to the Lithuanian Free Market Institute