I'm pretty sure the regulation is violated all the time everywhere, i.e. vending machines that require some local electronic card (e.g. to prove your age for sigarettes).
Which EU countries have cigarette vending machines? I've never seen such a thing, in the countries I shop they're behind a cashier. Sometimes even hidden so that if you don't know what to ask for you're not getting it.
In Germany, cigarette vending machines were incredibly common until around 15 years ago, but I haven't seen one in ages. Between stricter age verification requirements, a decline in smoking in general, and vandalism towards those machines, the profit margin was probably stretched too slim to continue maintaining these machines.