Experts Say Government-Business Integration Is the Biggest Obstacle to Tobacco Control
Reporter Wang Kaiguang from Legal Daily
The well-known domestic anti-smoking organization, the New Exploration Health Development Research Center, pointed out in the smoking control suggestions prepared for the National People's Congress representatives and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (hereinafter referred to as the "suggestions") that the integration of government and business in the tobacco industry has become the biggest obstacle to tobacco control in China. Therefore, it is recommended that the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and China National Tobacco Corporation quickly implement the separation of government and business, transforming the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau into the National Tobacco Control Bureau.
The New Exploration Health Development Research Center believes that from 1994 to 2013, almost all state-owned enterprises achieved the separation of government and business one by one. However, tobacco enterprises are the last remaining single commodity production and sales institution that has not completed the separation after the Ministry of Railways did so. The current tobacco monopoly system in China is a monopoly system that integrates the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and China National Tobacco Corporation.
Under this system, the government department that manages the tobacco industry not only cannot restrain its own enterprise behavior but also uses state power to seek greater development space for tobacco enterprises, allowing them to wield administrative power and substantial financial resources, thereby increasing tobacco production and sales, which severely obstructs China's tobacco control commitments and has a significant negative impact on tobacco control in China.
“Proposals for the separation of government and business in the tobacco industry have been made many times, but the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, as the administrative management department of the tobacco industry, has always evaded and delayed with reasons such as conditions not being met, timing not being mature, and impacts on tax revenue and employment,” the suggestions state.
The New Exploration Health Development Research Center also pointed out that as a member of the leadership group for tobacco control commitments, the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau not only fails to earnestly fulfill its responsibilities for tobacco control commitments but also actively obstructs the implementation of tobacco control measures under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, such as creating the “low tar, low harm” myth of Chinese cigarettes; hindering the adoption of the most effective graphic health warnings on tobacco product packaging; and obstructing comprehensive legislation to ban tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, which seriously violates the spirit of Article 5.3 of the Convention, allowing representatives of tobacco industry interests to formulate and implement tobacco control plans is clearly unworkable.
In addition, the integration of government and business breeds corruption. Many high-tax enterprises often experience high levels of corruption, and numerous corruption cases can be seen annually in tobacco enterprises. Under the government-business integration system, there may be even more serious corruption that has not been exposed. The biggest beneficiaries of the government-business integration are the vested interests themselves, those who are unwilling to promote reform.
Therefore, the New Exploration Health Development Research Center recommends that the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and China National Tobacco Corporation quickly implement the separation of government and business, separating administrative management functions from tobacco production and operation management functions, and strictly regulating their respective functions; transforming the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau into the National Tobacco Control Bureau to protect public health, control tobacco harm, supervise the implementation of the Convention, and regulate the behavior of tobacco enterprises, thereby promoting the progress of China's tobacco control commitments; before the establishment of the new system, the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau should withdraw from the national inter-ministerial coordination group for commitments and should not participate in the formulation of tobacco control commitment policies.
