E-cigarettes under strict regulation in China

China's electronic cigarettes are about to officially bid farewell to the era of flavoring. How will flavor restrictions affect the sales of electronic cigarettes? Can "strong flavor supervision" effectively reduce the induction of e-cigarettes to minors?

Diverse and novel flavors have always been an important means for e-cigarettes to attract consumers. However, with the order of the state, the E-Cigarette market has undergone new changes.

On March 11, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration announced the "Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes", which explicitly prohibits the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes other than tobacco flavors. This regulation will take effect on May 1. On April 8, the State Administration for Market Regulation released the mandatory national standard GB 41700-2022 "Electronic Cigarettes", which strictly restricted the flavors of electronic cigarettes and set a 5-month transition period for implementation. to be implemented.

China's electronic cigarettes are about to officially bid farewell to the era of flavoring. How will flavor restrictions affect the sales of electronic cigarettes? Can "strong flavor supervision" effectively reduce the induction of e-cigarettes to minors? After the transition period, where will flavored electronic cigarettes go?

Inventory of fruity products dwindles, prices rise

Flavored e-cigarettes continue to be sold, but the variety and quantity on the shelves are not what they used to be.

"The guava flavor is gone. I have been ordering but can't get it, but there are still some watermelon, mung bean, pineapple, and Tieguanyin. The price is 99 yuan per box." An electronic cigarette retailer in Chaoyang District, Beijing A store owner introduced to a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily.

It is understood that flavored electronic cigarettes experienced a brief price increase in March this year. Depending on the taste, the price increase ranged from 20 to 30 yuan, but now the original price has been restored. The store owner said that there are still more than 100 boxes of some flavors in stock, and some have only a few boxes left. "Some flavors may increase in price at the end of July because production is stopped."

Previously, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration set up a transitional period of "three noes": all kinds of investors are temporarily not allowed to invest in new electronic cigarette production and operation enterprises; stock electronic cigarette production and operation entities are not temporarily allowed to build or expand production capacity, and temporarily not to establish new electronic cigarettes retail point. Restrictions on manufacturers, production capacity and retail outlets have reduced the stock of flavored e-cigarettes on the market, and many e-cigarette retailers said that it has become more difficult to purchase goods and prices have risen.

Control effect still needs to be observed

In recent years, the country has successively issued a number of laws and regulations to regulate the electronic cigarette market.

In November 2021, the State Council issued the "Decision on Amending the Regulations on the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China" (Order No. 750 of the State Council), adding Article 65 "Electronic cigarettes and other new tobacco products refer to these Regulations as cigarettes. Relevant regulations will be implemented", and electronic cigarettes will be officially included in the supervision of the tobacco system.

From March to April this year, the national standards for "Administrative Measures for Electronic Cigarettes" and "Electronic Cigarettes" were successively released. Subsequently, documents such as "Implementation Rules for Identification and Testing of Electronic Cigarette Products", "Regulations on Electronic Cigarette Warning Signs", "Details of Electronic Cigarette Logistics Management", and "Details of Electronic Cigarette Transaction Management (Trial)" were successively issued to further regulate the development of the electronic cigarette industry.

However, it remains to be seen whether the "tight hoop" can be worn stably. Taking the current control over the taste of e-cigarettes as an example, the national standard for "E-Cigarettes" continues the provisions of the second draft, reducing the types of "additives allowed to be used in atomized products" from 122 to 101, reducing the number of items including plums. Extract, orange oil, sweet orange oil, lavender oil and other flavoring agents.

"It's good that flavors other than tobacco are not allowed to be sold, and the national standard has indeed removed a lot of fruity spices, but there is still room for the preparation of e-cigarette flavors." China Tobacco Control Expert, Xintan Health Development Research Center Former director Wang Ke'an pointed out that there are still cooling agents and sweeteners in the additives allowed in the final version of the national standard.

But in any case, the industry has entered a new stage, and just the restrictions on the taste of e-cigarettes will change the production plans of large and small factories, the marketing strategies of large and small distributors, and at the same time change some of the living habits of consumers. It can be seen that brands, retailers and buyers are all working hard to access the new consumption scenarios brought about by the country's new regulations.