The German Customs and Finance Union (BDZ) and the Federal Association of the Tobacco Industry and Novel Products (BVTE) have warned of a widening black market for tobacco and nicotine products. They said on Tuesday in Berlin that this market is growing rapidly yet remains largely hidden, as no reliable overall statistics exist. Much of the trade is conducted through online orders and small shipments, making statistical tracking difficult. As a result, credible estimates of the total market size are currently impossible.
Thomas Liebel, national chairman of the BDZ, confirmed that the illegal market is real. Customs officials cited their experience with illicit e‑cigarettes to illustrate the consequences of weak enforcement: high investigative and analytical workloads, long storage periods, serious safety risks from lithium batteries, and large storage and disposal costs that would ultimately be borne by taxpayers. In a single investigation by the Munich customs investigation unit, the storage and destruction cost of seized vapes alone reached roughly €750,000.
BVTE’s CEO, Jan Mücke, cautioned against a “special economic boom” for organised crime that could be fueled by political missteps. He argued that the state should focus on enforcing existing e‑cigarette bans more effectively rather than continuously drafting new prohibitions that would be poorly implemented and merely encourage illegal trade.
