China Government are Amending the tobacco monopoly law

The formulation of e-cigarette management measures, national standards and other supporting policies is based on the implementation of the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to promote the legalization and standardized governance of e-cigarette industry, solve the outstanding problems existing in the current e-cigarette market and industry, and ensure the health of the people, It is also an important measure to seriously implement the tobacco monopoly law and its implementation regulations.

According to the measures for the administration of e-cigarettes (Draft for comments), its main contents include: clarifying the definition and supervision object of e-cigarettes; Strengthen the production management of e-cigarettes, establish the quality and safety assurance system of e-cigarettes and the traceability system of e-cigarettes; Market entities engaged in the production, wholesale and retail of e-cigarettes shall obtain the license issued by the competent administrative department of tobacco monopoly accordingly; Establish a national unified e-cigarette trading management platform to manage the trading of e-cigarette products and e-cigarette nicotine; Electronic cigarette products shall comply with the national standards for electronic cigarettes and the relevant provisions on packaging marks and warnings, and use registered trademarks according to law; The relevant provisions on tobacco advertising shall apply to electronic cigarette advertising; The Department of tobacco monopoly administration under the State Council shall supervise and administer the import and export trade of e-cigarettes and foreign economic and technological cooperation according to law; The tax collection and payment of e-cigarettes shall be implemented in accordance with the national tax laws and regulations; wait.

In the process of formulating the national standard of electronic cigarette, relevant departments have carried out scientific safety risk assessment based on ensuring the health of the people, deeply studied and fully learned from the regulations and standards of the international organization for standardization, developed countries and regions, and put forward strict requirements for key risk points such as electronic cigarette sets and materials, aerosols, additives and releases, It ensures the scientific, applicable and advanced standards. For example, in terms of product form, the standard proposes that the electronic cigarette set and cigarette cartridge using electronic cigarette liquid should have a closed structure, mainly considering that the risk of consumers contacting the cigarette liquid during the use of continuous liquid electronic cigarette is very large, and the additives are uncontrollable; In terms of nicotine, the standard fully refers to relevant international regulations and standards, and it is clear that the concentration of nicotine in the atomization shall not be higher than 20 mg / g and the total amount of nicotine shall not be higher than 200 mg; In terms of atomized additives, referring to the management requirements of food additives in China, the standard adopts the method of "license + evaluation", which defines the principles and requirements that should be followed in the use of additives.

As for the main framework of e-cigarette supervision, according to the person in charge of relevant departments of the State Administration, the decision and relevant supporting policies being studied and formulated have clarified and refined the following aspects:

——About legal attributes. E-cigarettes are homogeneous with traditional cigarettes in terms of core components, product functions and consumption modes. They are new tobacco products. They are supervised with reference to cigarettes, which can be connected with laws and regulations such as juvenile protection law. They are also the supervision mode adopted by major countries and regions in the world.

——On the subject of supervision. The competent tobacco monopoly administrative departments at all levels shall supervise and control new tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes according to law. Market supervision, finance and other relevant departments shall perform relevant duties in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

——About the scope of supervision. Electronic cigarette refers to the electronic transmission product that produces nicotine containing aerosol for human suction. The products included in the regulatory scope mainly include cigarette bombs, cigarette sets, products sold in combination with cigarette bombs and cigarette sets, nicotine for electronic cigarettes, etc. It should be emphasized that heated cigarettes (or heated non combustible cigarettes, low-temperature cigarettes, etc.) belong to cigarettes, have been included in cigarette management, and are directly applicable to the regulatory provisions on cigarettes in the tobacco monopoly law and its implementation regulations. At present, China has not approved the marketing of heated cigarettes in China, and no market subject shall illegally operate heated cigarettes.

——About regulatory content. According to the provisions of the tobacco monopoly law and its implementation regulations, the supervision of the production, sales, import and export of e-cigarettes will be strengthened according to law, such as strengthening the access license management, strengthening the registration management, strengthening the supervision and inspection and administrative law enforcement, etc.

Set a transition period: orderly promote the implementation of regulatory requirements

The promulgation and implementation of the decision will not only have a far-reaching impact on the industry, but also bring significant changes to the e-cigarette industry.

From the industry level, the National Bureau will resolutely implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to strengthen the supervision of e-cigarettes and other new tobacco products according to law, strictly standardize the production and operation activities of e-cigarettes, strengthen government services, business guidance, supervision and management, effectively enhance the efficiency of e-cigarettes supervision and ensure the legalization and standardization of development.

As the main body of supervision, the tobacco monopoly administrative departments at all levels in the industry will strengthen the study of the newly revised implementation regulations, strengthen the publicity of the decision and relevant policies and regulations, earnestly perform their regulatory responsibilities, continue to strengthen the monitoring and supervision of the e-cigarette market, and strengthen the supervision of the production, sales, import and export of e-cigarettes according to law, Supervise and urge all kinds of e-cigarette production and operation entities (including e-cigarette production, agent processing, brand holding, cigarette nicotine production enterprises and e-cigarette dealers) to carry out e-cigarette production and operation business according to law, investigate and deal with all kinds of illegal acts according to law, effectively promote the standardization of e-cigarette market and effectively safeguard the interests of consumers.

All kinds of e-cigarette production and operation entities should fully close the Internet sales website or client of e-cigarette according to law, standardize e-cigarette advertising in strict accordance with the relevant provisions of tobacco advertising, and all kinds of e-commerce platforms should fully close online e-cigarette stores and take off the shelves of e-cigarette products.

According to the provisions of the tobacco monopoly law and its implementation regulations, since the date of promulgation and implementation of the decision, the production and operation of e-cigarettes shall obtain an access license, the products shall meet the relevant national standards, and the import of e-cigarettes shall comply with the relevant provisions of cigarettes.

Considering that there is a process for the formulation and promulgation of e-cigarette management measures and national standards for e-cigarettes, in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of e-cigarette producers and operators, better implement relevant regulatory requirements, safeguard people's health and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, the National Bureau decided that from the date of promulgation and implementation of the decision to the formal introduction of e-cigarette management measures and national standards for e-cigarettes Implement and set a certain transition period.

During the transition period, the existing e-cigarette production and operation entities can normally carry out production and operation activities.

At this stage, the tobacco monopoly administrative departments at all levels will not accept the application for production and retail license and product registration of e-cigarette production and operation entities, and the application for new e-cigarette retail business license scope of market operation entities holding tobacco monopoly and retail license (the specific acceptance time will be notified separately); The market supervision department will not issue the business license of various e-cigarette production and operation entities according to relevant regulations.

In order to standardize the market order of the e-cigarette industry, smoothly bring the e-cigarette industry into the track of legalization and standardization, and connect with the newly revised implementation regulations and relevant supporting policies being studied and formulated, all kinds of investors are not allowed to invest in new e-cigarette production and operation enterprises at this stage; The existing e-cigarette production and operation entities shall not build or expand production capacity, set up new e-cigarette retail outlets and market new products, and suspend the import of new e-cigarettes.

After the transition period, with the in-depth implementation of the decision and the full implementation of supporting policies, the e-cigarette production and operation entities with access licenses and products meeting national standards can carry out investment, construction, production and operation activities.