Proposed new law on nitrous oxide
The government has drafted a proposal for a new law on nitrous oxide. The law has not yet been adopted by Parliament, but the Government proposes that it should enter into force on July 1, 2025. The proposed legislation aims to restrict access to nitrous oxide for intoxication purposes.
Content of the draft nitrous oxide law
The main content of the government's proposal for a new law on nitrous oxide:
- The sale of nitrous oxide is prohibited if there is reason to believe that it will be used for intoxication purposes.
- The sale of nitrous oxide to a private individual may only take place if the nitrous oxide is contained in, or filled into, a container capable of holding a maximum of 9 grams of nitrous oxide. No more than two such containers may be sold or refilled per purchase and per person.
- When selling large quantities of nitrous oxide, the person handing over or filling the nitrous oxide must ensure that the buyer is a trader.
- Sales must not be made to persons under 18 years of age.
- A trader may not engage in the retail sale of nitrous oxide without first having notified the Public Health Authority of the sale.
- Anyone engaged in the retail sale of nitrous oxide must exercise self-control over sales and have a self-monitoring program.
Notification obligation and self-monitoring system
The government proposal states that:
- All traders selling nitrous oxide today will be subject to the regulations.
- Anyone who wants to conduct retail sales (sales to consumers) of nitrous oxide needs to notify the Public Health Agency and establish a self-monitoring program.
- A notification must be made from July 1, 2025, but it will be allowed to sell nitrous oxide to consumers until September 1, 2025 without having made a notification.
According to the proposal, those who only sell nitrous oxide to traders will not have to notify this or develop a self-monitoring program. However, sales to traders are covered by other parts of the new regulations. These include, among other things, checking that the sale is made to a trader.
We develop regulations and supervise the sale of nitrous oxide
The Government proposes that the Public Health Agency should be responsible for supervising compliance with most of the provisions of the law. We will also receive notifications from traders wishing to sell nitrous oxide to consumers and ensure that they compile and attach a self-monitoring program to their notification.
In order to carry out the supervisory task, the Government proposes that the Public Health Agency be given the opportunity to adopt regulations, including on how to notify the sale of nitrous oxide to consumers and what the self-monitoring program should contain. According to the proposal, we will also be entitled to charge a fee for conducting our supervision.
We have started to develop regulations with more detailed rules. At present, we cannot comment on how the notification obligation will be regulated, what the self-monitoring program must contain or what the fee for selling nitrous oxide will look like. We will update this webpage when such information is available. Our intention is to publish the regulations in early June 2025.
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