Poland continues to rise up the league table and this year is in eighth place thanks to a new ban on energy drink sales and the highest sugary drink tax in the EU (after adjusting for affordability). Wine and spirits advertising is banned entirely and beer can only be advertised on television after 8pm, with advertisements subject to a ten per cent tax. Drinking is illegal on streets and in parks unless municipal authorities specifically allow it in designated places.

Taxes on alcohol are well above the EU average once adjusted for income. In February 2018, the government passed a law allowing local authorities to limit the number of liquor stores and restrict sales after 10 pm. In 2021, a new tax on spirits sold in small bottles (under 300ml) was introduced to discourage their consumption. Levied at 25 zloty (€5.55) per litre of pure alcohol, it led to at least one company producing a range of 350ml bottles.

Poland has a near-total ban on tobacco advertising which it has extended to e-cigarettes. Cigarette vending machines are prohibited and it is even illegal to display products that imitate the packaging of cigarettes. It has a severe, though not total, ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces. Poland was particularly badly hit by the EU’s ban on menthol cigarettes, which came into force in May 2020, since around 30 per cent of Polish smokers prefer menthol.

In October 2020, the government implemented a tax of 0.55 zloty (€0.12) per ml of e-cigarette fluid and introduced a tax on heated tobacco of 155.79 zloty (€34) per kilogram plus a 32.05% ad valorem tax which has since been increased to 342.74 zloty (€83) plus 32.05% ad valorem.

A sugary drink tax passed through the parliament in 2020 and was implemented at the beginning of 2021. When critics accused the government of breaking its promise to not raise taxes, the deputy finance minister said that the sugary drinks tax was ‘a surcharge, not a tax.’ The ‘surcharge’ amounts to 0.5 Polish zloty (€0.12) per litre for drinks with 5g sugar per 100ml or less, plus 0.05 Polish zloty (€0.012) for each additional gram of sugar above 5g/100ml. The tax applies to artificially sweetened drinks as well as sugary drinks. Energy drinks face an additional tax of 0.10 zloty (€0.022) per litre.

Poland’s Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health has expressed interest in taxing so-called ‘junk food’, but a ban on the sale of energy drinks to people aged under 18 was implemented in 2024. The sale of energy drinks from vending machines was banned in January 2024, and ‘unhealthy’ food cannot be sold from vending machines in educational establishments.