Poland plans to ban the sale of energy drinks to minors as of 2024

Poland’s sports minister has presented a bill that would ban the sale of energy drinks to under-18-year-olds from 2024. While the medical community has applauded the idea, they have also called for awareness campaigns on the effects of energy drinks to go along with the ban.

“A litre bottle costing a few zlotys at a discount store provides as much caffeine as 6-8 cups of black coffee. While we cannot imagine a child drinking a litre of coffee during a break, an energy drink is a bit like a drug wrapped in candy,” sport and tourism minister Kamil Bortniczuk told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Bortniczuk, who is a member of junior coalition partner the Republicans (Republikanie), hopes for the bill to be passed before the end of the current parliamentary term in the autumn.

Under the proposed law, the ban would apply to the sale of beverages containing more than 150mg/l of caffeine or taurine to persons under the age of 18, except for beverages in which these ingredients occur naturally. It would outlaw selling energy drinks on the premises of educational establishments and in vending machines.

The bill also proposes a ban on advertising these beverages to children. In practice, this would mean that adverts for such drinks could not appear in public places on advertising billboards or on television between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Adverts for energy drinks could not be placed in magazines aimed at minors or on the cover of other magazines. They could, however, appear at sports events.

“We are not in a position to realistically block these adverts,” the minister told PAP, when asked about energy drink producers sponsoring sports events or individual sportsmen.

The bill also provides for penalties to be imposed on sellers who break the ban. Republican party spokesman Szymon Stachowiak cited regulations on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors, which carries a fine of 500 zloty (€106), in a response to online news outlet Interia.

For breaches of the ban on advertising energy drinks, fines would range from 10,000 zloty to as much as half a million zloty, the bill reads. Advertisers could also face prison sentences.

The final shape of the law will be worked out in the Polish parliament. The sports minister announced that he would officially submit the draft law to the lower house of the Polish parliament, the Sejm, during its proceedings this week.

According to Bortniczuk, there is a consensus on the proposed ban. “From the conversations we are having, it seems that apart from some completely insignificant groups… this draft law is supported by all political forces,” he said.

The sports minister’s proposal was welcomed by representatives of the medical community, with the head of Warsaw’s chapter of the College of Family Physicians in Poland, Michał Sutkowski, calling the bill “a step in the right direction”.

“This must be followed by a good information campaign to make consumers aware of the consequences of drinking energy drinks,” Sutkowski said in an interview with Wirtualna Polska.

“Energy drinks contain substances that have a euphoric effect on the body and affect the central nervous system, as well as the cardiovascular system. Abuse of such drugs can cause cardiac arrhythmias, epileptic seizures and even cause sudden cardiac death,” he said.

Psychotherapist and psychologist Robert Rutkowski said in an interview with Radio Zet that in recent years he has seen an increase in the number of young people checking in for psychotherapy for energy drink addiction.

“Years of drinking such drinks, especially by children and young people, can impinge on their health as adults. I am surprised that it is only now that someone has started to address this. This problem has been mounting up for 15 years,” he said.

Main photo credit: thom masat / Unsplash 

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.