Deputy Director Zhao Hongshun: Take Cigarette Anti-Counterfeiting Further
Introduction: In recent years, tobacco monopoly management departments at all levels have maintained a high-pressure stance against counterfeit cigarettes, insisting on precision and depth, with unwavering intensity and unchanged mechanisms, continuously pushing the work against counterfeit cigarettes deeper. However, the current situation regarding counterfeit cigarettes remains severe, and the task of "consolidating results and preventing rebounds" is daunting. So, what achievements have been made in the national anti-counterfeiting work for cigarettes in recent years? What characteristics does the anti-counterfeiting work exhibit? What challenges does it face? How should these be addressed? Recently, our reporter specifically interviewed Zhao Hongshun, Deputy Director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, regarding issues related to cigarette anti-counterfeiting.
China Electronic Cigarette News: Conducting in-depth anti-counterfeiting work for cigarettes is a strong guarantee for maintaining the tobacco monopoly system, an important measure for ensuring a good order in the cigarette market and sustaining the healthy development of the industry, and a direct reflection of safeguarding national interests and consumer rights.
In recent years, tobacco monopoly management departments at all levels have maintained a high-pressure stance against counterfeit cigarettes, insisting on precision and depth, with unwavering intensity and unchanged mechanisms, continuously pushing the work against counterfeit cigarettes deeper. However, the current situation regarding counterfeit cigarettes remains severe, and the task of "consolidating results and preventing rebounds" is daunting. So, what achievements have been made in the national anti-counterfeiting work for cigarettes in recent years? What characteristics does the anti-counterfeiting work exhibit? What challenges does it face? How should these be addressed? Recently, our reporter specifically interviewed Zhao Hongshun, Deputy Director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, regarding issues related to cigarette anti-counterfeiting.
Reporter: Hello, Deputy Director Zhao. First, could you briefly introduce the development of national anti-counterfeiting work for cigarettes in recent years? What characteristics does it exhibit?
Zhao Hongshun: Sure. I will briefly introduce the situation of national anti-counterfeiting work for cigarettes since 2012.
Since 2012, tobacco monopoly management departments at all levels have focused on building an anti-counterfeiting system of "government leadership, departmental cooperation, multi-party participation, and close collaboration," adhering to the work priorities of "eliminating dens, cutting off sources, breaking networks, and capturing main offenders," fully leveraging the role of the long-term mechanism for joint anti-counterfeiting, and maintaining a high-pressure stance against counterfeit cigarettes, severely cracking down on illegal activities related to the production and sale of counterfeit cigarettes, achieving significant results. In particular, efforts have been intensified to address the production sources of counterfeit cigarettes, increase the crackdown on logistics and transportation links, and the use of the internet to sell counterfeit cigarettes, with greater emphasis on targeting the supply chain of raw and auxiliary materials; strengthening the effective connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, enhancing the level of investigation and handling of counterfeit cigarette network cases, and further increasing the intensity of arrests and prosecutions.
It can be said that the anti-counterfeiting work for cigarettes since 2012 has mainly exhibited the following three characteristics: First, organizational leadership has become more robust. The Ministry of Public Security, the National Bureau, and various levels of public security and tobacco monopoly management departments have continuously strengthened organizational leadership, actively promoting the formation of a comprehensive governance work pattern for cigarette anti-counterfeiting characterized by "local government overall responsibility, functional departments cooperating with each other, and multi-party joint action." Second, the government's leading role has become more prominent. Tobacco monopoly bureaus at all levels in Fujian, Guangdong, Henan, and other regions have actively sought support from local party committees and governments to promote comprehensive governance in key areas of counterfeit cigarette production, forming a long-term working mechanism led by the government, with cooperation from tobacco, public security, and other departments. Third, the collaboration mechanism has become more refined. Local tobacco departments have continuously strengthened cooperation and coordination with public security, industry and commerce, postal services, civil aviation, railways, highways, and other departments, forming a joint force to combat illegal activities related to tobacco.
Reporter: What is the current situation facing anti-counterfeiting work for cigarettes? What are the main goals and tasks for the next phase of anti-counterfeiting work?
Zhao Hongshun: In recent years, tobacco monopoly bureaus at all levels have fulfilled their responsibilities in accordance with the law, continuously improved the long-term mechanism for joint anti-counterfeiting, maintained a high-pressure stance, and conducted in-depth anti-counterfeiting and market supervision work, effectively curbing illegal activities related to the production and sale of counterfeit cigarettes. However, the current situation regarding counterfeit cigarettes remains severe, with long-standing issues in certain regions persisting, the transfer and diffusion of counterfeit production activities becoming evident, and the law enforcement environment in some areas still needing further improvement. The supply of raw and auxiliary materials for counterfeit production has not been effectively curtailed, and the online networks supporting counterfeit cigarette activities continue to play a significant role. Anti-counterfeiting work is a process of "competing intelligence, endurance, and strength"; it is a long-term, complex, and arduous task. We must maintain a clear understanding of the situation, treating the severe crackdown on illegal activities related to the production and sale of counterfeit cigarettes and strengthening tobacco market supervision as a strong guarantee for the sustainable and healthy development of the industry, fully recognizing the importance of this work from the perspective of safeguarding national interests and consumer rights. We must enhance our awareness of the overall situation and responsibility, strive to grasp the laws of anti-counterfeiting work, timely address new trends and issues that arise in anti-counterfeiting work, and continuously improve the scientific level of anti-counterfeiting work. We must sharpen the sword of anti-counterfeiting, "consolidate results and prevent rebounds," and effectively safeguard national interests and consumer rights.
Reporter: In the next phase, what work should be focused on in key counterfeit production areas?
Zhao Hongshun: Summarizing the anti-counterfeiting experiences of Fujian and Guangdong, we should implement a combination of deep strikes and comprehensive governance in key areas, ensuring both aspects are strong to consolidate anti-counterfeiting results from the source. We need to carefully summarize successful experiences, highlight the handling of major cases, strictly implement anti-counterfeiting responsibilities, and further consolidate and expand the achievements in addressing production sources to curb the rebound of counterfeiting from the source.
Currently, the anti-counterfeiting situation in Fujian, Guangdong, and Henan remains severe. In the next phase, the Fujian tobacco department should take effective measures such as cross-regional cooperation, provincial linkage, strengthening case management, strict crackdowns, and capturing main offenders to effectively curb the increasing trend of counterfeit cigarette seizures around Yunxiao and the evident transfer and diffusion of counterfeit activities. The Guangdong tobacco department should maintain the good momentum of anti-counterfeiting work since the "three strikes and two constructions" initiative, exploring comprehensive governance in key areas such as eastern Guangdong, further promoting the government to improve the long-term mechanism for cigarette anti-counterfeiting, and effectively combating the transfer and diffusion of counterfeiting, manual packaging, and illegal activities related to the transportation and storage of counterfeit cigarettes. Regarding the counterfeiting situation in Henan, the National Bureau will work with the Ministry of Public Security to supervise the anti-counterfeiting work in certain key areas of Henan, actively promoting local party committees and governments to include cigarette anti-counterfeiting in the comprehensive governance assessment of social security, further improving the law enforcement environment, and conducting a concentrated investigation and resolution action for cases related to Henan, striving for new breakthroughs.
Reporter: Breaking networks is an important aspect of anti-counterfeiting work for cigarettes. From what aspects should we focus on combating the networks involved in the production and sale of counterfeit cigarettes?
Zhao Hongshun: Combining market supervision with combating networks involved in the production and sale of counterfeit cigarettes is key, as it can consolidate anti-counterfeiting results from the channel perspective. We need to establish a market supervision analysis mechanism, strengthen the analysis of market data, and enhance the ability to discover major case clues through market supervision. Based on the discovery of clues, we should further strengthen the in-depth management of cases, increase the intensity of investigation and evidence collection, thoroughly understand the networks and activity patterns of network cases, and strive to ensure that every network case handled thoroughly destroys a criminal gang. We should further strengthen coordination with relevant departments or enterprises, promptly clear online stores suspected of illegal cigarette sales, and curb the rebound of illegal tobacco operations on the internet.
At the same time, we should work with the Ministry of Public Security to strengthen the supervision and coordination of major inter-provincial network cases, breaking significant cases. In light of the high proportion of counterfeit cigarettes seized during transportation, provinces such as Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Henan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang should further increase the crackdown on transportation links, promptly grasp the dynamics of transportation and sales, track the flow of counterfeit cigarettes, and summarize experiences through case handling to grasp the patterns and solve the difficulties in investigating and handling counterfeit cigarette activities in logistics and transportation.
Reporter: Only by cutting off the supply chain of raw and auxiliary materials for counterfeit production can we achieve a fundamental solution to counterfeiting activities. What work should be done in this regard in the next phase?
Zhao Hongshun: We need to combine strengthening the management of raw and auxiliary materials with combating illegal operations of raw and auxiliary materials, thereby consolidating anti-counterfeiting results from a material support perspective.
On one hand, we should strictly regulate the production and operation behaviors of various related enterprises, strengthen the supervision of discarded tobacco monopoly products, and at all levels of tobacco departments in major tobacco-producing areas, enhance the supervision of tobacco leaf purchases to form an effective mechanism that prevents them from flowing into underground counterfeit production dens. On the other hand, we should severely crack down on illegal operations of raw and auxiliary materials for counterfeit production through continuous special actions and handling major cases, effectively combating the supply chain of raw and auxiliary materials that support counterfeit production. We should timely carry out special actions against illegal operations of tobacco leaves, handling a number of major cases with serious circumstances and malicious nature; continue to crack down on illegal printing of counterfeit cigarette trademarks, resolutely shutting down underground printing dens.
Reporter: The government-led joint anti-counterfeiting mechanism plays an important role in the work against counterfeit cigarettes. How should this work mechanism be further improved in the future?
Zhao Hongshun: Tobacco departments at all levels should actively seek the attention and support of local people's governments and relevant law enforcement departments, focusing on building an anti-counterfeiting system of "government leadership, departmental cooperation, multi-party participation, and close collaboration," establishing and improving a long-term mechanism for cigarette anti-counterfeiting, actively exploring comprehensive governance, closely cooperating with public security, customs, industry and commerce, and other functional departments, fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of all parties, further improving systems and measures for clue reporting, case collaboration, joint law enforcement, and regular consultations, improving mechanisms for case filing assistance, investigation and evidence collection, mutual recognition of evidence, assistance in execution, and emergency response, forming a joint force to enhance the effectiveness of the crackdown. We should standardize the law enforcement cooperation process, closely monitor the transfer and diffusion of counterfeit cigarette activities, and timely organize joint crackdown actions in neighboring areas; strengthen information sharing between regions, improve the effectiveness of cross-regional law enforcement cooperation and supervision, and strive to enhance the scientific, institutional, and normalized level of anti-counterfeiting work.
Reporter: Thank you for your interview.
