"E-cigarettes are less harmful than traditional cigarettes" and "can help quit smoking"... As a result of the publicity stunt, e-cigarettes have become popular among smokers, especially young people, and some even use them as a way to stop smoking. In fact, for a long time, there were no relevant national standards for e-cigarettes, and the production process, content of ingredients and quality standards could not be followed. The regulations on the management of e-cigarettes came into effect in May, and the mandatory national standard for e-cigarettes will come into effect in October. As World No Tobacco Day approaches, how will better regulation of e-cigarettes protect consumer safety?
The e-cigarette market is crowded
China is the world's largest e-cigarette production base, with exports accounting for 90 percent of the world's total, according to media reports. China's e-cigarette exports reached 138.3 billion yuan in 2021, up 180 percent year on year, according to the E-cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce. At present, China has more than 1,500 e-cigarette manufacturers and brand enterprises, more than 190,000 e-cigarette retail outlets, and nearly 100,000 e-cigarette supply chain and surrounding service enterprises.
For a long time, while the e-cigarette industry has been expanding rapidly, there have been some e-cigarette products on the market that have not been tested for safety due to a lack of regulation and relevant industry standards, as well as a low technological threshold.
As a supplement to traditional tobacco products, e-cigarettes pose certain safety and health risks. Due to the strong arbitrariness in the use of raw materials, additives, process design, quality control and other aspects, some products have quality risks such as smoke oil leakage, inferior batteries, unsafe ingredients. Some companies are adding flavorings, such as chocolate, coffee and several fruit flavors, to boost sales in order to change the flavor and color of the vapes.
E-cigarettes are electronic devices that mimic cigarettes and have a similar look, smoke, taste and feel to cigarettes. In principle, e-cigarettes are vaporizers powered by rechargeable lithium polymer batteries that heat the oil in a tank and turn nicotine into vapor for the smoker to smoke. Some brands acquiesce or encourage dealers to focus on young people in Internet marketing, and label e-cigarettes as "fashion" and "trend", so as to attract young people to buy and smoke. In November 2019, the Research results of The China Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the number of e-cigarette users aged 15 and above in China was about 10.35 million, and the majority of users were young people aged 15 to 24, with an increasing trend year by year.
Compulsory gb will govern the whole industrial chain
To protect minors from electronic cigarettes, strengthen supervision and electronic cigarette market, country market supervision and management of taxation and the state tobacco monopoly bureau in 2018 and 2019 has jointly issued the "notification regarding the protect minors from electronic cigarette" and "about further protect minors from electronic cigarettes notice", All types of market entities are not allowed to sell e-cigarettes to minors, and enterprises and individuals producing and selling e-cigarettes are urged to close their e-cigarette online sales websites or clients in a timely manner. Urging e-commerce platforms to close e-cigarette stores and remove e-cigarette products from shelves in a timely manner; Companies or individuals who produce or sell e-cigarettes are urged to withdraw e-cigarette advertisements posted on the Internet.
At the same time, the country has begun to strengthen regulation of the e-cigarette industry. In November 2021, The State Council issued the Decision on Amending The Regulations on the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Tobacco Monopoly (Order No. 750 of The State Council), adding Article 65, "E-cigarettes and other new tobacco products shall be implemented with reference to the relevant provisions of cigarettes in these Regulations", which officially incorporated e-cigarettes into the supervision of tobacco system. In March 2022, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration issued regulations on the Management of e-cigarettes, establishing a regulatory system for e-cigarettes, stating that "e-cigarette products should meet the mandatory national standards for e-cigarettes," which went into effect on May 1 this year.
In order to provide technical support for the e-cigarette regulatory system, the State Administration for Market Regulation (STANDARDIZATION Committee) issued the Mandatory National Standard for e-cigarettes on April 8, which sets out clear technical requirements for devices, atomizers and releases of e-cigarettes. The standard will come into force on October 1, 2022. The release of the standard means that China has long had no unified national standard for the production of e-cigarettes.In the mandatory national standard, the additives and maximum usage of electronic smog compounds are specified, and standards are set for impurities and pollutants such as heavy metals and arsenic, requiring that the concentration of nicotine in electronic smog compounds should not be higher than 20mg/g, and the total amount of nicotine should not be higher than 200mg. In addition, the standard states that e-cigarette kits and cartrids should have closed structures that prevent artificial filling. The devices and cartridges that use e-cigarette liquid should have good sealing and should not leak. Electronic cigarette sets should have the protection function of preventing children from starting and preventing accidental starting; E-cigarettes should not catch fire or explode after falling.
The release of the national standard means that the whole e-cigarette industry chain will adopt the same standard, and e-cigarette factories, aerosol and nicotine manufacturers and brands will strictly follow the national standard for research, development and production.
Flavored e-cigarettes must be removed from shelves
In recent years, e-cigarettes have become widely popular, attracting many minors to try them because of their diverse tastes and low difficulty in smoking and purchasing. According to a report on e-cigarette Marketing and its Impact on Youth health released by the Institute of Health Communication of Fudan University on Oct. 22, 2021, fruit flavors are the most attractive among teenagers, followed by food and beverage flavors. E-cigarettes can have adverse consequences for the health and development of young people, as well as inducing them to use cigarettes. At the same time, the flavoring agents and additives in the liquid may produce harmful substances after heating, causing health risks.
In view of this, the regulations explicitly prohibit the sale of flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco flavor and e-cigarettes with self-added aerosol. Based on the measures for the administration of regulatory requirements, and is in line with the international trend of regulation, using the experience of international regulation, the electronic cigarette mandatory national standard "put forward the scientific and applicable technical content, its outstanding characteristic is embodied in: first, the provisions of the electronic cigarette is" for people to produce aerosol pump such as electronic transfer system ", will not contain nicotine electronic cigarettes into the definition of electronic cigarettes. Second, given the fruit, food, beverage and other seasonings electronic cigarettes and no nicotine electronic cigarettes to minors has strong appeal, easy to induce minors smoking, standard specified should not make the product characteristic flavor presents other than tobacco flavor, and clear requirements "atomization content should contain nicotine", which do not contain nicotine electronic cigarette products may not be sold into the market. Third, the standard is based on the principle of additive use, after full safety risk assessment demonstration, experimental verification and extensive soliciting of opinions, a clear list of 101 allowed additives, included in the "white list" of additives.
According to article 25 of China's Standardization Law, "products and services that do not conform to mandatory standards shall not be produced, sold, imported or provided". After the mandatory national standard for e-cigarettes comes into effect, e-cigarette products sold on the market must comply with the national standard. During this period, e-cigarette manufacturers need to design products for compliance according to the requirements of the standards, complete product transformation, and apply to relevant departments for product testing and technical evaluation, so a transitional period of six months is set for implementation. During the transition period, existing e-cigarette production and operation entities before November 10, 2021 can continue to carry out production and operation activities, and shall apply for relevant licenses and product technical evaluation in accordance with the requirements to design products for compliance and complete product transformation. After the transition period ends on September 30, 2022, e-cigarette products sold on the market must meet national standards.
Sales to minors are prohibited
Since the implementation of national standards is engaged in the electronic cigarette, atomizer, such as electronic cigarette nicotine production and business operation activities, shall be in accordance with the law to the department of tobacco monopoly administration at the provincial level of residence permit for the window, or the department of tobacco monopoly administration under the State Council administrative licensing online government services platform, apply license for tobacco monopoly production enterprise. Enterprises that have obtained the license shall, with the approval of the department of tobacco monopoly administration, change the scope of license before engaging in the wholesale business of electronic cigarette products; Market entities engaged in the retail business of e-cigarettes (including cigarette bombs, cigarette sets and the products sold in combination with cigarette bombs and cigarette sets, etc.) shall apply to the department of tobacco monopoly administration for obtaining the license for tobacco monopoly retail or changing the scope of license.
From now on, e-cigarette trading will be conducted in a unified management platform. The construction of a national unified e-cigarette trading management platform is an important step to regulate the market order and promote the orderly operation of the industry. After the platform is put into operation, e-cigarette manufacturers, wholesalers and retail market entities that have obtained tobacco monopoly licenses, as well as products that have passed technical reviews, should trade on the platform. Starting from June 15, 2022, e-cigarette manufacturers, wholesalers and retail market entities with tobacco monopoly licenses will be able to gradually trade on the platform.
In addition, Article 59 of China's Juvenile Protection Law stipulates that schools and kindergartens shall not be set up around tobacco, alcohol, lottery sales outlets. The sale of tobacco, alcohol or lottery tickets to minors or the payment of lottery winnings shall be prohibited. Tobacco, alcohol and lottery operators shall set up conspicuous signs indicating that they do not sell tobacco, alcohol or lottery tickets to minors. If it is difficult to determine whether a minor is a minor, he shall be required to produce his identity certificate. According to the regulation, to strengthen the protection of minors' physical and mental health, all types of market entities are not allowed to sell e-cigarettes to minors. Any organization or individual should be discouraged and stopped from selling e-cigarettes to minors.
If citizens found selling electronic cigarettes to minors, production and sales of counterfeit electronic cigarette products, sales of electronic cigarettes and other illegal activities through information network, you can dial 12313 tobacco market supervision service hotline, or to report released by the department of tobacco monopoly administration channels all provide clues, illegal behavior will be in accordance with the relevant departments to verify processing, maintenance of consumers' legal rights and interests. (Handi Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court)