Italy plans to move vape liquid tax rise to 1 July 2027

Italy’s government wants the next e-liquid and heated tobacco tax step to start on 1 July 2027, six months earlier than the 2028 date set in existing law.

The 2027-2029 budget bill also proposes bringing e-liquid retail prices into an official catalogue and curbing exclusive brand agreements with retailers. The government approved the draft on 28 October 2026, according to 2Firsts, and the Presidency recorded the legislative documents on 30 October. Parliament has not yet voted on it.

Two tax steps now fall in 2027 instead of one

Law No. 199 of 30 December 2025 already set a rising scale of excise coefficients for 2026 to 2028. The new bill, under Article 33, would pull the final step forward.

The coefficients are applied to the statutory cigarette-equivalent excise; they are not a percentage added to the retail price.

If the text passes unchanged, both liquid categories rise 2 percentage points in July and heated tobacco 1 point, on top of the January step.

Sigmagazine, citing the bill’s technical report, puts the early rise in liquid duty at about EUR 9.45 million for 2027 and about EUR 18.9 million a year once fully applied. That is a forecast of fiscal effect, not collected revenue.

E-liquid prices would enter the ADM official catalogue

Article 34 would give the customs and monopolies agency, ADM, an administrative route to list e-liquid products and their retail prices in the official price schedule already used for tobacco.

Prices and price changes would in principle follow applications from manufacturers. For products made outside the EU, a qualified exclusive importer or authorised representative could apply instead.

The draft sets 90 days for the listing procedure and 40 working days for setting or changing a retail price. Distributors and retailers could still negotiate the price components that sit outside excise and VAT.

Retailers would lose exclusive deals and single-brand displays

The finance ministry would have 180 days from the law taking effect to write retail rules covering tobacco shops, community stores, pharmacies and parapharmacies.

The draft requires retailers to stock a product mix suited to local demand without one brand or manufacturer holding an exclusive or dominant position in displays and sales. It would ban exclusive agreements between retailers and manufacturers or distributors.

Other proposed limits include bans on tying a sale to the purchase or free receipt of another product, and on rewards, bonuses or extra services tied directly to market share or volume targets. Consumer-facing product information would be confined to product characteristics and adults, and retailers would have to apply the underage sales ban and age checks.

The draft does not order existing single-brand vape shops to close; how they, brand zones and existing contracts are treated depends on the final text and implementing rules.

On supply, manufacturers and suppliers shipping into Italy from other EU states or third countries would have to route through operators with authorised warehousing in Italy. Retailers’ purchases would be restricted to ADM-authorised warehouse operators, backed by tax records, trading documents and licence suspension for breaches.

The bill also targets parts and accessories that let a device’s tank or disposable pod exceed the applicable EU capacity limit; it does not cap all refill bottles at 2ml.

Transitional relief and penalties remain in draft

According to Sigmagazine’s reading of the draft, existing authorised warehouse operators and some firms holding both storage and sales licences would get one year to adjust.

Certain existing stock affected by the capacity rule could move from distribution warehouses to shops by 1 June 2027 and be sold by 31 December 2027, subject to the final law.

The draft also sets penalties, including fines and licence suspension or revocation.

Who is affected, and the different clocks

Italian retailers face changes to how they display and contract for e-liquid. Manufacturers and importers face the price catalogue and authorised-warehouse route into the market, and multinationals face all of it at once across import, storage, distribution and shop level.

The tax date and the retail rules do not share a timetable: 1 July 2027 is the proposed tax date, while the retail measures depend on implementing rules due within 180 days of the law taking effect.

The bill’s fate is now with parliament, which can change dates, coefficients or the Article 34 provisions.

Questions readers ask

When would the higher Italian e-liquid tax apply?

The bill proposes 1 July 2027 for the next step, six months earlier than the 2028 date in Law No. 199 of 30 December 2025. Parliament must still approve it.

Would the tax percentage be added to the retail price?

No. The percentages are excise coefficients calculated on the statutory cigarette-equivalent excise, not a share added directly to the retail price, according to 2Firsts.

Do existing single-brand vape shops have to close?

The draft does not order closures. It restricts exclusive agreements and single-brand dominance in displays, and how existing shops are treated depends on the final law and implementing rules.