Fine regulation of e-cigarettes by legislation

Recently, the Ministry of industry and information technology and the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau issued the "decision on Amending the" Regulations for the implementation of the tobacco monopoly law of the people's Republic of China "(Draft for comments)", proposing that new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes should be implemented according to the relevant provisions of cigarettes. This is the first time that new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes will be regulated by special laws.

According to the results of the 2018 China Adult Tobacco Survey, the e-cigarette use rate of the 15-24 age group was 1.5%. The main way to get e-cigarettes is the Internet. Based on this, on November 1, 2019, the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and the State Administration of market supervision and Administration issued the notice on further protecting minors from e-cigarette infringement, urging the e-commerce platform to close e-cigarette stores in time and take e-cigarette products off the shelves in time. Subsequently, the eight national departments jointly issued the "notice on Further Strengthening youth tobacco control work", warning all kinds of market entities not to sell e-cigarettes to minors, especially to minors through the Internet. China's law on the protection of minors, which will come into effect on June 1, 2021, has also written e-cigarettes into the law for the first time, emphasizing the prohibition of the sale of cigarettes and e-cigarettes to minors.

All along, businesses have claimed that e-cigarettes are safe and reliable, and the content of harmful substances is very low; Some e-commerce companies even say that they can help to quit smoking by smoking e-cigarettes; Smoking e-cigarettes can replace real cigarettes, so that you are addicted to cigarettes without harming your body. However, the authoritative test reports show that nicotine is the main component of e-cigarettes, which will also release harmful substances and endanger the health of smokers and passive smokers. Long term use of e-cigarettes will also produce dependence on nicotine. Therefore, China plans to amend relevant laws and regulations to make it clear that "e-cigarette will refer to cigarette supervision", indicating that the supervision of e-cigarette has entered the track of rule of law.

In other words, regulatory "cigarette", but also need to refine the legislation. First of all, the relevant laws on the supervision of e-cigarettes should be issued to clarify the "four prohibitions", that is, banning the online sale of e-cigarettes, banning physical stores from selling e-cigarettes to minors, banning smoking e-cigarettes in indoor public places, and banning the publication of e-cigarette related advertisements. At the same time, in case of the above-mentioned illegal acts, in addition to ordering the business to correct within a time limit, confiscating the illegal income and imposing a fine, the business qualification will be cancelled if the circumstances are serious or refuse to rectify; Strict punishment should also be given to individuals who smoke e-cigarettes in indoor public places. In particular, the supervision efficiency of e-cigarettes should be greatly improved, the production and operation activities of e-cigarettes should be effectively standardized, the problems of product quality and safety risks and false publicity of e-cigarettes should be solved, and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, especially minors, should be effectively protected.