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China Tobacco, or State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, released Thursday a draft regulation on forming a supervisory framework to manage e-cigarettes, which will go through a period of public opinion solicitation. 

The draft regulation emphasized that e-cigarette products should be registered by the responsible department before being made available for sale in China, and for those who meet the listing requirement and grant with registration, the products should be included in the e-cigarette product catalog. 

The draft regulation stressed that the establishment of e-cigarette enterprises must be approved by relevant administrative department of the State Council. Enterprises also need to obtain a license for production and sales and the registration should be approved by the market supervision and management authority. 

The State Council announced the decision to amend the country's tobacco monopoly law on November 26. According to the amendment, new types of tobacco products including e-cigarettes will be managed under existing cigarettes regulations.

With the regulation of e-cigarettes being put into force, industry players can refer to the license management of traditional cigarettes, which will enhance the industry access threshold and is favorable for companies with a strong record of compliance, people.cn reported, citing an industry report.  

The regulation will also strengthen protection of minors. Outlets selling e-cigarettes will not be allowed to operate in close proximity to primary and secondary schools, kindergartens and other educational institutions. The sale of e-cigarette products to minors and the use of vending machines to sell e-cigarette products is strictly prohibited. 

The move follows discussion around regulatory gaps for e-cigarettes in recent years resulting in the unchecked expansion of the industry, while some products have added unknown or unqualified ingredients to the products and advertised with misleading information. Misleading product information has led to poor consumer choices and even induced minors to take up smoking, negatively impacting the physical and mental health of the young people.

Global Times