Four people detained for illegally selling e-cigarettes online; selling IQOS tobacco sticks is illeg
There is a large IQOS user base in China, and many people have taken risks to profit from it. According to the latest news, four people were criminally detained for illegally selling e-cigarettes online, and selling IQOS tobacco sticks is illegal. E-cigar
There is a large IQOS user base in China, and many people are taking risks to make money. In the latest news, four people were criminally detained for illegally selling e-cigarettes online, and selling IQOS tobacco sticks is illegal! E-cigarettes have become a popular “new favorite” among many smokers. Recently, Pujiang police, together with the Pujiang County Tobacco Bureau, successfully cracked an illegal tobacco operation case. Four suspects were arrested in Shenzhen and Dongguan, and more than 2,000 cartons of IQOS cigarettes were seized, with a case value as high as 6 million yuan. Recommended reading: Why is IQOS banned?
This was also the first time Pujiang police had cracked a case involving the illegal sale of this type of new heat-not-burn e-cigarette product.
It is reported that this new product, formally known as heated tobacco, consists of a palm-sized “IQOS” rectangular electronic heating device and tobacco sticks that are only about one-third the length of a traditional cigarette. Through electronic heating, users can still “puff away” without needing a lighter.
However, in China, heated tobacco is not included within the permitted tobacco monopoly sales scope. In other words, heated tobacco products cannot currently be sold domestically.
Suspect Zhang had previously worked in Shenzhen operating Taobao and Alibaba platform stores. In October 2017, he accidentally discovered what he thought was a path to wealth while working: selling IQOS e-cigarettes.
IQOS is a type of e-cigarette and a new heat-not-burn tobacco product developed by the maker of the well-known tobacco brand Marlboro. The main tobacco stick brands currently circulating on the market include Marlboro, PARLIAMENT, HEETS, and FIIT.
After recognizing this major business opportunity, Zhang began disguising the products on Taobao and Alibaba listings to sell them, and as his customer base grew, he invited several friends to run the business together.
Later, because they violated relevant laws, Zhang’s Taobao and Alibaba shops were shut down one after another. But instead of learning their lesson, Zhang and the others shifted their focus to promotion and sales through WeChat-based sellers, Moments, and other channels.
Zhang and the others purchased the products from upstream suppliers and then looked for customers to resell them to. Each carton of tobacco sticks was sold for between 230 and 360 yuan, and they profited from the price difference.
Testing confirmed that the seized tobacco sticks were tobacco products and could not be sold without authorization.
At present, Zhang and the other three suspects have been criminally detained on suspicion of illegal business operations, and the case remains under further investigation.
Police reminded the public that according to Article 1, Item 5 of the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases Involving the Illegal Production and Sale of Tobacco Monopoly Products and Other Such Cases,” anyone who violates national tobacco monopoly administration laws and regulations and, without permission from the tobacco monopoly administrative authority, engages in the illegal business of tobacco monopoly products without the required licenses—such as a tobacco monopoly production enterprise license, tobacco monopoly wholesale enterprise license, special tobacco monopoly business license, or tobacco monopoly retail license—and where the circumstances are serious, shall be convicted and punished for illegal business operations in accordance with Article 225 of the Criminal Law.
Article 3, Paragraph 1 further stipulates that where the illegal business amount involving tobacco monopoly products reaches 50,000 yuan or more, it shall be deemed “serious circumstances” as provided under Article 225 of the Criminal Law.
Accordingly, because the individuals involved in this case did not obtain a tobacco monopoly retail license and the sales amount of the cigarettes they operated was huge, their conduct constituted serious illegal operation of tobacco monopoly products and should be punished under Article 225 of the Criminal Law on suspicion of illegal business operations.
This was also the first time Pujiang police had cracked a case involving the illegal sale of this type of new heat-not-burn e-cigarette product.
It is reported that this new product, formally known as heated tobacco, consists of a palm-sized “IQOS” rectangular electronic heating device and tobacco sticks that are only about one-third the length of a traditional cigarette. Through electronic heating, users can still “puff away” without needing a lighter.
However, in China, heated tobacco is not included within the permitted tobacco monopoly sales scope. In other words, heated tobacco products cannot currently be sold domestically.
Suspect Zhang had previously worked in Shenzhen operating Taobao and Alibaba platform stores. In October 2017, he accidentally discovered what he thought was a path to wealth while working: selling IQOS e-cigarettes.IQOS is a type of e-cigarette and a new heat-not-burn tobacco product developed by the maker of the well-known tobacco brand Marlboro. The main tobacco stick brands currently circulating on the market include Marlboro, PARLIAMENT, HEETS, and FIIT.
After recognizing this major business opportunity, Zhang began disguising the products on Taobao and Alibaba listings to sell them, and as his customer base grew, he invited several friends to run the business together.
Later, because they violated relevant laws, Zhang’s Taobao and Alibaba shops were shut down one after another. But instead of learning their lesson, Zhang and the others shifted their focus to promotion and sales through WeChat-based sellers, Moments, and other channels.
Zhang and the others purchased the products from upstream suppliers and then looked for customers to resell them to. Each carton of tobacco sticks was sold for between 230 and 360 yuan, and they profited from the price difference.
Testing confirmed that the seized tobacco sticks were tobacco products and could not be sold without authorization.
At present, Zhang and the other three suspects have been criminally detained on suspicion of illegal business operations, and the case remains under further investigation.
Police reminded the public that according to Article 1, Item 5 of the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases Involving the Illegal Production and Sale of Tobacco Monopoly Products and Other Such Cases,” anyone who violates national tobacco monopoly administration laws and regulations and, without permission from the tobacco monopoly administrative authority, engages in the illegal business of tobacco monopoly products without the required licenses—such as a tobacco monopoly production enterprise license, tobacco monopoly wholesale enterprise license, special tobacco monopoly business license, or tobacco monopoly retail license—and where the circumstances are serious, shall be convicted and punished for illegal business operations in accordance with Article 225 of the Criminal Law.
Article 3, Paragraph 1 further stipulates that where the illegal business amount involving tobacco monopoly products reaches 50,000 yuan or more, it shall be deemed “serious circumstances” as provided under Article 225 of the Criminal Law.
Accordingly, because the individuals involved in this case did not obtain a tobacco monopoly retail license and the sales amount of the cigarettes they operated was huge, their conduct constituted serious illegal operation of tobacco monopoly products and should be punished under Article 225 of the Criminal Law on suspicion of illegal business operations.
