State Tobacco Monopoly Administration: Next Step Will Strengthen Regulation of E-Cigarette Logistics

On May 22, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration held a press conference to introduce the work and progress of strengthening the regulation of e-cigarettes in accordance with the law. Major central news media such as the People's Daily, China Central Radio and Television, People's Political Consultative Conference News, and Legal Daily, as well as industry news media like China Tobacco and Eastern Tobacco News, attended the meeting.

During the press conference, the spokesperson of the State Administration and relevant department heads introduced the situation, and journalists raised questions on issues of concern.

According to the spokesperson of the State Administration, since November 10, 2021, the government has taken strict measures against illegal activities related to e-cigarettes.

As of now, a total of 1,848 administrative penalty cases related to e-cigarettes have been investigated nationwide, and 398 criminal cases involving e-cigarettes have been jointly handled with public security departments. A total of 2.94 million tobacco sticks, 730,000 vaping devices, 3.57 million disposable e-cigarettes, 9.8 tons of nicotine and aerosol, over 10 tons of accessories have been seized, 25 counterfeit production sites and 36 finished product warehouses have been dismantled, with an involved amount of about 2.1 billion yuan, and 1,323 people have been arrested.

For a long time, the State Administration has attached great importance to the protection of minors, actively taking various strong measures to fully protect the physical and mental health of minors. Journalists learned from the press conference that, in conjunction with the State Administration for Market Regulation, a notice was issued to cut off online sales channels; special actions were carried out to rectify illegal offline sales; legal publicity and education were conducted to build broad social consensus. The State Administration will continue to clean up e-cigarette sales points around campuses, strengthen the clearing of illegal information related to e-cigarettes on the internet, supervise internet companies to implement self-cleaning mechanisms, and severely crack down on illegal activities such as selling e-cigarettes to minors. At the same time, legal publicity and education will be strengthened to enhance minors' awareness of resisting false advertising and bad temptations, creating a good social environment for protecting the healthy growth of young people.

According to relevant department heads of the State Administration, to comprehensively strengthen the regulation of the e-cigarette market, in recent years, the State Administration has actively constructed a regulatory system for the e-cigarette market that covers "online cleaning, offline control, full-chain coverage, and joint governance" through strengthening the handling of online information related to e-cigarettes, enhancing market supervision, focusing on full-chain coverage of regulation, and actively promoting joint governance, thereby advancing regulatory enforcement in accordance with the law and achieving positive results.

In response to journalists' questions, relevant department heads of the State Administration pointed out that from March 1 to April 25, 2023, tobacco monopoly bureaus at all levels conducted comprehensive inspections of e-cigarette-related production enterprises, wholesale enterprises, and retail entities, covering a total of 48,265 enterprises and retail operations. This was the largest and most comprehensive national enforcement inspection of e-cigarettes since they were brought under regulation. The inspection work adhered to unified standards, coordinated scheduling, collaborative efforts, and comprehensive results application, achieving full coverage of the entire industry chain from production to retail. The inspection found that most e-cigarette production enterprises that legally obtained tobacco monopoly licenses were basically compliant, while some enterprises had general violations of regulatory policies, and a few enterprises were suspected of illegal activities; the vast majority of retail entities operated legally and compliantly, but some retail entities were found to be selling e-cigarettes to minors, sourcing from illegal channels, and selling flavored e-cigarettes in "milk tea cup" forms.

China's e-cigarette industry has a significant outward-oriented characteristic, with most domestically produced e-cigarettes being exported. With the orderly advancement of the legalization and standardization of e-cigarette industry governance, the steady implementation of e-cigarette regulatory policies, the active international expansion of certified e-cigarette production enterprises, and stable international market demand, e-cigarette export trade continues to improve, showing a good trend of both quantity and quality rising. In the next step, the State Administration will focus on implementing the "E-cigarette Management Measures" and related regulatory documents, supervising certified enterprises to fully implement import and export trade regulatory policies.

Regarding how to strengthen the regulation of e-cigarette logistics and delivery, relevant department heads of the State Administration pointed out that they will cooperate with relevant departments to focus on rectifying safety hazards in delivery channels for e-cigarettes, legally investigating delivery companies' violations of e-cigarette delivery regulations, and cracking down on illegal activities related to e-cigarettes in the delivery field, striving to build a safety barrier for e-cigarette delivery channels, urging delivery companies to strictly implement e-cigarette delivery management regulations, and legally investigating illegal activities related to e-cigarettes carried out by delivery companies, cutting off illegal e-cigarette delivery circulation channels.

The spokesperson of the State Administration stated that the State Administration will adhere to Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as guidance, resolutely implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, starting from fully ensuring the health and safety of the people, further improve regulatory policies, standardize industry operations, optimize management services, strengthen market supervision, prevent risks and hidden dangers, and continuously promote the legalization and standardization of e-cigarette industry governance. #p#分页标题#e#

Heads and relevant personnel from the State Administration's Office, Monopoly Supervision and Management Department, and E-cigarette Management Office attended the press conference.