National Standards for Vaping Devices and E-Liquid Are Coming Soon

Following the public release of the country’s first group standard for the vaping industry by the Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce in December 2017, national standards are now also being accelerated, and companies across the entire supply chain are eagerly awaiting them.

At present, the national standards for vaping devices and e-liquid have completed the stages of online public notice, drafting, solicitation of opinions, and review, and are now awaiting approval. If all goes smoothly, the national standards are expected to be released publicly within 2019.

Information disclosed online shows that the national standards for vaping devices and e-liquid were drafted entirely by research institutes, research centers, and companies affiliated with China Tobacco, and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration was clearly designated as the supervising authority. Judging from this, the future of China’s entire vaping industry may end up being completely controlled by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration.

At this point, whether the industry falls under unified tobacco-sector management is actually no longer the key issue. Looking at it another way, the introduction of national standards for vaping devices and e-liquid also indicates that the industry will still have a chance to continue developing.

Previously, regulation of vaping devices in China was almost completely absent. Vaping devices were neither classified as pharmaceuticals or medical devices, nor formally included under tobacco. China’s Tobacco Monopoly Law stipulates that tobacco monopoly products include cigarettes, cigars, cut tobacco, redried tobacco leaf, tobacco leaf, cigarette paper, filter rods, tobacco filament tow, and tobacco-specific machinery. Vapor products were not included, so the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration did not issue corresponding standards or regulations for vaping devices. As a result, most vaping products remained in a “three-no” state: no product standards, no quality supervision, and no safety evaluation. Although major domestic brands repeatedly promoted themselves as authentic, safe, and helpful for quitting smoking, as long as no national regulatory policy was in place, such advertising claims were little more than hype.

For every day that China’s regulatory policy on vaping devices remains pending, harmful “three-no” products on the market continue to pose risks to public health. As the vaping market expands, the industry will inevitably face increasing government oversight, and profits may also decline. Now that national standards for vaping devices and e-liquid have been drafted, the past situation of no regulation, no standards, and no order will come to an end, and the industry will enter a new stage of development in which competition and opportunity coexist.