China amends tobacco monopoly law to include e-cigarettes and vaping

The State Council of China amended its tobacco monopoly law Friday to include regulations for e-cigarettes and vaping. This result comes after months of deliberation by the Chinese government to regulate electronic tobacco consumption.

E-cigarette sales have been functioning in the grey area of the law since they became popular in China. Following the amendment, they will be regulated and supervised just like conventional tobacco products. The tobacco industry in China is fully controlled by the government. Companies and retailers have to obtain special permits before being allowed to sell tobacco products.

China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) first proposed the amendment in March of this year. This came from concerns that packaging on e-cigarette products do not accurately list out the nicotine concentration levels, and would lead to more teenagers developing an addiction to vaping.

China’s e-cigarette market is the largest in the world, worth about 8.38 billion yuan. The country not only has massive e-cigarette use but also has factories that produce and supply vaping devices and liquids as well. Chinese e-cigarette giant RELX technology’s stock dropped by 15% after the amendment was posted.

The new provision can be found in Article 65 in the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Tobacco Patent Sales Law of the People’s Republic of China.

Source: Jurist