Vape hardware compliance in Switzerland (non-EU)

Not the EU, and not the EEA either

The European Free Trade Association describes itself as the intergovernmental organisation of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, and describes one of its main tasks as managing the Agreement on the European Economic Area, which brings together the Member States of the European Union and three of the EFTA States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, in a single market.

Three of the four. Switzerland is the fourth and the one left outside, so the internal market for goods the EEA Agreement extends to the other three does not extend to it. Its relationship with the EU runs on bilateral agreements we did not read.

What that does to CE, WEEE and the GPSR

It means the frameworks in our EU compliance pillar are not Swiss obligations of their own force. CE marking, RoHS, WEEE, the EU Batteries Regulation and the General Product Safety Regulation bind in EU member states, and through the EEA Agreement in the three EEA EFTA states. None reaches Switzerland automatically.

That is not the same as saying your CE file is useless. It is still the evidence pack your factory should hold and what a Swiss buyer will ask to see. It is not a Swiss permission. Treat Switzerland as a separate market, priced and planned separately.

The Swiss regime: the Tobacco Products Act

The instrument to know is the Swiss Tobacco Products Act. The Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, states that the Tabakproduktegesetz and the Tabakprodukteverordnung have applied since 1 October 2024, and lists them as SR 818.32 and SR 818.321. We name those numbers as BAG publishes them and do not link them: Fedlex would not render without JavaScript, and we do not link a text we could not read.

The sentence that matters most to a hardware supplier is the scope sentence. BAG states that alongside conventional tobacco products the Act also regulates electronic cigarettes with and without nicotine, and tobacco products for heating. A seller with a nicotine-first habit of mind should read that twice before assuming an empty product sits outside the Act. We are not asserting it sits inside it. That question goes to BAG.

BAG also notes that the Act is being revised to implement the popular initiative on tobacco advertising and minors, and that the revised law is expected in force at the beginning of 2027. On a two-year tooling horizon, that is a calendar entry.

The two millilitre ceiling, and two Federal Court rulings

This is the part of Swiss law that reaches into your mould. BAG states that article 9 governs the supply of nicotine-containing liquids to consumers, and that within it a tank volume of at most 2 ml is permitted for disposable electronic cigarettes and disposable cartridges.

Two Federal Court judgments then narrowed it, both recorded on the same page:

• 2C_353/2025. A tank volume above 2 ml in a disposable electronic cigarette is not compatible with the Act. What is decisive, BAG summarises, is the capacity of the container, not the quantity of liquid filled into it, and the limit applies equally to tank systems using absorbent material such as cotton.
• 2C_492/2025. That volume may not be extended by attaching a further 10 ml cartridge. BAG states that such hybrid devices, also called "Big Puffs", do not meet the statutory requirements and may no longer be sold.

Read that the way a factory reads it. Capacity is fixed in tooling, before any liquid exists, so for Swiss-bound disposables 2 ml is a design constraint, not a filling instruction. Our 2 ml pod guide covers the EU-side thinking; the regimes may not reason identically. Whether an empty 2.5 ml shell is caught by article 9 is not a question the BAG page answers.

Age, advertising and notification

Three further facts from the same source. A minimum supply age of 18 applies to all products covered by the Act. Test purchases now have a statutory basis across Switzerland, and BAG states their results can be used in administrative or criminal proceedings. And product notification runs through the tabacinfo portal.

On advertising, BAG describes a federal floor: posters visible from public ground are prohibited, as is advertising in public transport, public buildings, cinemas and on sports grounds; free product giveaways and competitions with gifts are prohibited; and sponsorship is prohibited at international events or events aimed at a minor audience. BAG then adds the line a foreign seller most often misses: the cantons may adopt stricter rules than the federal Act. So "compliant in Switzerland" is not one answer.

A third country means a border

Goods moving from a Dutch warehouse to a Swiss buyer cross a real customs frontier. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG) publishes the company-facing material: procedures for importation, exportation and transit, a section on bans, restrictions and conditions applying to certain goods, and a section on domestic taxes and duties which it says include tobacco duty.

We name the tobacco duty because BAZG names it, and state nothing about whether it touches empty hardware. The commercial mechanics are in the incoterms guide and the import duty guide: EU-side, so the shape of the problem, not the Swiss answer.

Who holds what in Switzerland

What applies in Switzerland, and who to ask

Framework	Applies in Switzerland?	What the source says	Who to ask
CE, RoHS, WEEE, GPSR, EU Batteries Regulation	Not as EU law	EFTA places only Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway in the EEA	A Swiss adviser
Tobacco Products Act (TabPG, SR 818.32)	Yes, since 1 October 2024	Covers e-cigarettes with and without nicotine	BAG
2 ml tank ceiling for disposables	Stated under article 9	Capacity decides, not the quantity filled (2C_353/2025)	BAG
Hybrid "Big Puff" devices	May no longer be sold	No extension by an attached 10 ml cartridge (2C_492/2025)	BAG
Minimum supply age	18 years	All products covered by the Act	BAG
Product notification	Yes	Runs through the tabacinfo portal	BAG
Advertising and sponsorship	Federal floor	Cantons may impose stricter rules	The canton, via your buyer
Customs and import formalities	Yes, third country	Import, export and transit procedures; bans and restrictions	BAZG
Swiss product safety law	Separate regime	No source would load, so we state nothing	A Swiss adviser

What this page does not say

More than usual, deliberately. No Swiss equivalent of WEEE, RoHS or producer registration, because no Swiss take-back source would load and we will not name one from memory. No Swiss product safety statement, because the federal pages we tried returned nothing. No duty rate, tariff heading or VAT figure, because we verified none. No statement that an empty device is inside or outside the Tobacco Products Act, the one question only BAG can answer. And no claim about a Swiss representative, in either direction.

Shorter and true beats longer and wrong. Write to BAG for the product regime and BAZG for the border, and get both answers on paper before quoting a landed price.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a CE mark get my hardware into Switzerland?

Not of its own force. EFTA describes itself as the organisation of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, and describes the EEA Agreement as bringing the EU member states together with only three of them. Switzerland is the one left outside, so EU directives and regulations do not apply there simply because they apply in the EU. A CE file is still the evidence pack your factory should hold, but it is not a Swiss permission.

Does the Swiss 2 ml limit apply to an empty device?

BAG frames article 9 of the Tobacco Products Act as governing the supply of nicotine-containing liquids to consumers, and states that within it a tank volume of at most 2 ml is permitted for disposable electronic cigarettes and disposable cartridges. The Federal Court then held that what counts is the capacity of the container, not the amount of liquid put into it. Capacity is decided in the mould, so treat 2 ml as a design constraint for Swiss-bound disposables and confirm it with BAG. We do not state that an empty shell is or is not caught.

Does the Swiss Act only cover nicotine products?

No. BAG states that alongside conventional tobacco products the Act also regulates electronic cigarettes with and without nicotine, and tobacco products for heating. That is broader than the assumption many EU-based sellers carry across the border, and it is the most useful sentence on the BAG page for a hardware supplier.

Sources

• The European Free Trade Association, EFTA, for Switzerland's membership and for the EEA Agreement covering only Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
• Tabakproduktegesetz, Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), for the 1 October 2024 start date, the scope, article 9 and the 2 ml tank volume, judgments 2C_353/2025 and 2C_492/2025, the age of 18, test purchases, the advertising rules, the cantonal power to go stricter, tabacinfo, the SR numbers, and the 2027 revision.
• Information for companies, Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG).
• Not cited: Fedlex would not render without JavaScript, so no text of the Act or its ordinance is linked and the SR numbers come from BAG's page. Federal product-safety pages returned no content, so no such authority is named. No EUR-Lex instrument is cited as a Swiss obligation, because none is one.

Trade guidance for B2B buyers, not legal advice. We sell empty hardware only (no cannabinoids, no e-liquid), B2B trade only, 18+ / 21+ per market; you are responsible for the fill and for finished-product compliance in your market. The buyer that brands the device and places the finished product on the Swiss market carries the Swiss obligations and should take its own Swiss legal advice.