Retail sales licence for nicotine products

The sale of nicotine replacement therapy products elsewhere than in pharmacies requires a retail licence. The licence is applied for in the municipality where the place of sale is located.

A retail sales licence for nicotine replacement therapy products that help to quit or reduce smoking can be granted for tobacco-selling shops, service stations, kiosks and eating and drinking establishments. Selling nicotine replacement therapy products in vending machines is prohibited.

Apply for the licence with a written licence application. Submit the application to the authority responsible for environmental health care in the municipality where the sales point is located.

In your application, clarify how you will ensure that your retail sites comply with the provisions of law regarding the retail sale of nicotine replacement therapy products.

The application must include

• your or your company’s name and contact information, business ID and the addresses of the retail sites of nicotine replacement therapy products
• an account of the storage of the NRT products, such as monitoring of the cold chain and last date of sale
• an account of how the sales is supervised, such as how the products are placed in the shop and how age restrictions are monitored
• the name and contact information of the person in charge of the sales
• an account of the number and location of sales points in the sales site

Selling nicotine replacement therapy products in shops requires that

• the entrepreneur has a retail licence for nicotine products
• the products are sold in the site listed on the licence
• the products are only sold to persons who are 18 and over
• the sales person can oversee the sale of the products
• the products are not sold in vending machines.

Local environmental health care will issue the licence if the entrepreneur has the capacity to store and sell the products pursuant to the Medicines Act. The entrepreneur must notify the licence authority of any changes to the information listed in the licence application and the termination of the products' sale.

The storage, retail sale and marketing of NRT products must comply where applicable with the provisions of the Medicines Act. The sold NRT products must have a sales permit granted by either the European Commission or the Finnish Medicines Agency (Fimea). The sold NTR products may only be procured from pharmaceutical wholesale licence holders to which Fimea has granted wholesale licences.

If the trader is established in another EEA state and provides services in Finland on a temporary basis, they are required to have the same permits as the traders established in Finland.