Europe has set in motion the machinery to reform the rules that govern the tobacco market. What Brussels presents as a necessary update, in Spain the sector views as a latent threat to the fabric of industry and the security of the market. The Tobacco Table, an organization that brings together virtually all links of the value chain in Spain, has moved to the offensive. In anticipation of the review of the EU directive, the sector has drawn an insurmountable red line: the regulation cannot be based on ideology, but on scientific evidence and on a real impact assessment that considers the socio-economic consequences of “extreme” measures. They believe that extreme regulation could fuel illicit trade.
The process, which has already passed a first evaluation phase and a preliminary consultation, is now heading toward a formal legislative proposal that the European Commission expects to present before the end of 2026. If the usual timelines in European proceedings are met, the impact of this reform will reach Spanish legislation toward the end of the decade, in the 2029-2030 horizon. A window of time that the sector wants to use to impose sanity over legislative interventionism.
The Sector on Alert
The employers’ association does not oppose updating the standards, but demands that this be, in its own words, “balanced and proportionate”. The industry’s main concern is that Brussels, under constant pressure from sectors advocating punitive measures, ends up adopting policies such as generic packaging, whose inefficacy in reducing consumption has been, according to the sector, amply demonstrated in other international markets.
Beyond the debate on public health, the Tobacco Table places the focus on a structural problem: illicit trade. For the industry, there is a dangerous paradox. While the sector strives to collaborate with the administration to clean the market of illegal sales, a European regulation that is too rigid could end up opening the backdoor to the black market.
This argument is not a trivial one. On May 7, during the II Conference on Illicit Trade held at the CEOE headquarters in Madrid —an event that brought together more than a hundred representatives from security forces, customs oversight, and logistics experts— the success of public-private collaboration was made evident. The figures are telling: in the last year, the Baylos firm, in collaboration with the sector, has detected 8,950 illegal online tobacco ads. Of these, 8,753 have been removed, achieving a near 98% success rate.
Lucha contra el fraude
It is precisely that capacity for self-regulation and cooperation that the Tobacco Table places on the table against Brussels. Águeda García-Agulló, the general director of the employers’ association, together with the president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, have repeatedly stressed the importance of protecting legal certainty and the smooth functioning of the internal market.
The sector sends a clear message: it is inconsistent that, while security forces —such as the Guardia Civil, the National Police, and Vigilancia Aduanera— intensify their fight against sophisticated smuggling networks, a restrictive European law would destroy the legal market. They argue that if legal tobacco becomes artificially more expensive or is rendered less competitive by extreme regulations, price-sensitive consumers will inevitably shift toward illicit trade. A phenomenon that, far from being merely a revenue problem, poses risks for employment in specialized territories, for small and medium tobacconists, and for the environment.
Rigor against Ideology
The Tobacco Table demands that the forthcoming law be anchored in transparency and technical rigor. The industry calls for a thorough assessment of how the reform will affect non-combustible new products—a segment that is transforming the market and requires specific, differentiated regulation and based on current science, not on prejudices of the past.
Meanwhile, the countdown has begun. Until August 2026, Brussels will keep the consultation channels open. In the meantime, the Spanish tobacco sector has marked its stance: it is prepared to cooperate in a coherent reform, but will not accept “experiments” in legislation that jeopardize the sector’s stability, a sector that, despite operating in a highly regulated environment, has proven to be a key ally in the fight against the shadow economy. The contest, to be played out in European chambers, promises to be one of the most consequential regulatory battles of the coming years for the Spanish industry.
