Crackdown on Illegal E-cigarette Sales in Shenzhen and Shanghai

Key points:

• Shenzhen has conducted inspections on approximately 1,000 e-cigarette retailers, focusing on cracking down on the sale of illegal e-cigarettes and sharing information with multiple agencies.
• Clearing illegal e-cigarette information from online platforms, investigating online cigarette sales leads, and transferring multiple suspected illegal merchants.
• Shanghai authorities have seized a large quantity of non-compliant e-cigarettes and have initiated investigations into three entities involved. They are tracing the origins of the illegal products and planning to conduct a comprehensive inspection of all e-cigarette retailers in the city.

Journalists learned today that on the 23rd, the Central TV Station's "Weekly Quality Report" segment aired a report titled "The Hidden 'Fruity' E-Cigarette." Following the broadcast, the Shenzhen Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, under the overall command of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, made arrangements to conduct a comprehensive investigation and rectification of e-cigarette operators focusing on "offline blockage, online cleanup, and source tracing crackdown.

The focus of the investigation is to determine whether businesses are using hidden compartments or interlayers to store and sell flavored e-cigarettes, as well as whether they are involved in the export and re-import of e-cigarettes. In addition to regular inspections, there will be an increase in off-peak and nighttime inspections, with a total of approximately 1000 businesses being inspected. The investigation will focus on businesses selling illegal e-cigarette products, with the sharing of information with local public security and market supervision departments.

At the same time, crackdown on illegal sales of fruit-flavored and herbal aerosol e-cigarettes on the internet. Fully utilize the online tobacco information monitoring platform and social governance system, push more than a thousand cleaning orders to platforms such as Douyin, Pinduoduo, Xianyu, Taobao, Bilibili and other companies, requiring them to quickly remove illegal information.

The Shenzhen Tobacco Monopoly Bureau is currently organizing efforts to analyze and evaluate clues related to the online sale of e-cigarettes, delving deeper into the networks behind the manufacture and sale of these products. They are cracking down on illegal activities involving the covert sale of e-cigarettes through private WeChat channels, utilizing a special app for reporting online tobacco sales violations to receive reports on illicit sales. Multiple suspected merchants of illegal e-cigarettes have been identified and promptly handed over to local tobacco authorities for further investigation and action.

According to the Shanghai Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, on the afternoon of March 23rd, based on clues uncovered by reporters during the "Weekly Quality Report" program, the bureau organized law enforcement officers to conduct market inspections in their jurisdiction. During the inspection at one retail store, a total of 88 varieties and over 1200 unbranded e-cigarettes, pods, and disposable e-cigarettes with flavors such as watermelon, vanilla, and cantaloupe were found, suspected to be illegally imported. The total value of the seized items is estimated to be around 40,000 RMB.

According to Huang Bin, deputy director of the Shanghai Tobacco Monopoly Bureau's monopoly office, the program involves three businesses, one of which has been found to be engaged in illegal operations after preliminary investigation. The remaining two have also been included in the focus of the investigation. The local sub-bureau will lead the follow-up actions and, based on existing investigation evidence and case leads, officially initiate investigation procedures for the three businesses. They will also collaborate with the public security, market supervision, and other law enforcement departments to fully trace the supply channels and smuggling chains of the products involved and thoroughly investigate the upstream sources of illegal activity. In the next phase, the Shanghai Tobacco Monopoly Bureau will organize a large-scale survey of the city's 596 e-cigarette retailers to comprehensively verify the implementation of warning signage and identity verification requirements.