Regulation · 26 October 2026 · Stefan Bensmo

Age verification at parcel lockers: the ruling that changes snus e-commerce in Sweden

Short answer: anyone selling snus online in Sweden must be able to check the age of the person who actually receives the parcel. In January 2026, the Administrative Court of Appeal in Stockholm ruled that it is not enough for the recipient to identify with BankID while the seller checks that the person is at the parcel locker, because nobody checks who the product is actually handed to. In October, the Supreme Administrative Court declined to hear the case, so the judgment is final. Haypp Group closed its online store Snusnetto.se the same day. The ruling formally covers tobacco, but Sweden’s law on nicotine pouches contains the same requirement.

What happened?

The case concerns Snusbolaget Norden AB, a Haypp Group subsidiary that ran Snusnetto.se. According to Haypp, the company accounts for less than one percent of group sales (Haypp Group). Its importance lies not in the company but in the fact that the judgment now guides the whole industry.

What does the law say?

Under Sweden’s Tobacco and Similar Products Act, tobacco may not be sold or handed over to anyone under 18, and whoever hands it over must make sure the recipient is 18 or older (chapter 5, section 17). Products must also be supplied so that the recipient’s age can be checked, including in distance sales (chapter 5, section 18) (Riksdagen). The Tobacco-Free Nicotine Products Act has equivalent rules for nicotine pouches in sections 19 and 20 (Riksdagen).

Since March 2024, the Public Health Agency’s regulations have required a seller’s self-monitoring programme to describe how age is checked both at sale and at handover (HSLF-FS 2024:4). The agency’s guidance says the routines apply regardless of who hands over the product or how the handover takes place (Public Health Agency).

The court’s reasoning

According to Dagens Juridik’s summary, the court found that delivery to parcel lockers with a BankID age check does not meet the requirement, because no check is made of who the tobacco is actually handed to. A BankID can sit on several devices, and a locker cannot verify the recipient the way a person can at a handover. The court also rejected the argument that the law was unclear, and found that the company’s marketing broke the law (Dagens Juridik).

What is still allowed?

The ruling does not ban parcel lockers. It says BankID and a location check are not enough to make sure who collects the parcel. In practice:

• Staffed pickup points where staff check ID are not affected, according to Haypp.
• Home delivery with an age check at the door meets the same principle, because a person hands over the product and checks the recipient.
• Parcel lockers need a solution that verifies the age of the person who opens the locker. Haypp has spent about six months developing one and is rolling it out across its other Swedish stores in October, but has not described the technology (Haypp Group).

Before the ruling, carriers used different methods: Instabox has recipients scan a QR code with BankID, while PostNord has them identify in its app and open the locker by Bluetooth. Instabox and Budbee together operate more than 4,000 lockers, and PostNord about 7,000 (Snusbolaget). We have not seen any carrier publicly change its process after the ruling.

Does the ruling also cover nicotine pouches?

Formally, no. The case concerned the licence to sell tobacco, and nicotine pouches were not part of the ruling. But the Tobacco-Free Nicotine Products Act is worded the same way, and according to Tobaksfakta, the Public Health Agency has said the same identification requirements should apply to pouches (Tobaksfakta). Retailers selling pouches via lockers should expect municipal supervisors to apply the same reasoning.

How much is affected?

According to Svensk Handel’s e-commerce indicator, cited by Haypp, about SEK 2.9 billion of nicotine and tobacco products were sold online in Sweden in January–July 2026, and the category grew 19% in the second quarter (Haypp Group). It is a survey-based estimate, not official statistics. No company has disclosed what share of deliveries go to parcel lockers.

Criticism and politics

Snusarnas Riksförbund, a Swedish snus users’ association, criticises the ruling. Its chair, Samuel Lundell, says it is now “easier to take out a bank loan than to collect snus”, warns of fewer retailers and longer journeys for consumers outside the big cities, and would rather see a ban on buying for minors (Vejpkollen). The government inquiry SOU 2024:23 proposed such a ban, but it is still being prepared in the Government Offices with no timetable (Riksdagen). The government has said it is for the courts to develop practice on age checks in distance sales (Riksdagen).

Meanwhile, the industry is moving toward stricter checks. Swedish Match has required ID from all buyers in its own stores since October 1, 2026 (Vejpkollen), and Haypp’s head of legal expects electronic age verification for all tobacco and nicotine purchases, online and in stores, within two to three years.

What it means for the industry

Our read The ruling moves responsibility for the age check to the last step of delivery. E-commerce’s biggest advantage – quick and easy delivery – becomes more expensive to provide, and the cost hits smaller online retailers hardest because they cannot build their own technical solutions. For brands, the channel mix may shift toward stores and staffed pickup points. Four concrete recommendations:

• Online retailers: review your self-monitoring programme now and describe explicitly how age is checked at handover, not only at purchase. Do it for both tobacco and nicotine pouches.
• Agree age checks with your carrier, and require documentation of how the recipient is verified at the locker or the door.
• Offer options that hold up legally – staffed pickup points and home delivery with checks – until an approved locker solution is in place.
• Brands and manufacturers: track how sales split between channels over the coming quarters, and be ready to strengthen your store presence if online sales fall.

See also nicotine pouch regulation in Sweden, marketing nicotine pouches online and snus in Sweden.