For the last decade or so, the Netherlands has been trashing its reputation as one of the world’s most liberal countries. In 2017, the Christian Union, a socially conservative political party, found itself in government after coming eighth in the general election. Although it only won five of the 150 seats in parliament, it joined the governing coalition on the condition that one of its members, Paul Blokhuis, be made State Secretary for Health. Blokhuis then introduced his ‘National Prevention Agreement’ with a raft of nanny state measures, including plain packaging and a display ban for tobacco, both of which came into force in 2020. Blokhuis has since left office but his legacy lives on.

A tobacco (and e-cigarette) display ban was introduced to supermarkets in July 2020 and extended to all shops in January 2021 (specialist tobacconists are exempt). Supermarkets were banned from selling cigarettes altogether in 2024. Cigarette and e-cigarette vending machines were banned in bars and restaurants in January 2022.The sale of e-cigarettes were banned in supermarkets, hotels, bars and restaurants in July 2024. Worst of all, all e-cigarette flavours except tobacco were banned in January 2024 and the Tobacco and Smoking Products Act effectively banned nicotine pouches by limiting their nicotine content to just 0.035 mg.

The Netherlands had already moved towards plain packaging in 2017 with an unusual law banning ‘holograms, sparkles, shiny and glamorous colours, embossing or expressions referring to a specific theme’ on cigarette packs. This morphed into full plain packaging in October 2020 and was extended to cigars and e-cigarettes in January 2022.

Alcohol advertising can only be broadcast after 9pm. Since July 2021, shops have been prohibited from discounting alcoholic drinks by more than 25 per cent and offering volume price discounts. Amsterdam city council has discussed closing bars at 2am with the last customers permitted to enter no  later than 1am.

A ban on e-cigarette advertising was overturned in 2012, but reintroduced in 2020. There is no vape tax, but all e-cigarette flavours apart from tobacco will be banned in October 2023. The government is also in the process of banning nicotine pouches.

A ban on smoking was introduced in 2008 but was overturned for small bars in 2010 before being reintroduced in 2014. This left smoking banned in the vast majority of indoor venues, although there was an exemption for marijuana. Smoking rooms are still permitted for employees, but not in restaurants, bars and cafés, and smoking rooms in all workplaces were banned in July 2021. Vaping was added to the ban in July 2020 ‘to set a good example for young people’, according to Blokhuis, who also wanted to ban smoking on terraces.

It is all very depressing. Even the Netherland’s beer tax, which has traditionally been low, is above the EU average now. The best that can be said for the country is that it has so far resisted nanny state regulation of food and soft drinks. Although a sugar tax has been seriously discussed, nothing has yet come of it.