According to the website of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Transport and Logistics Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR has drafted a document entitled "Strengthening the Control of Transshipment of Alternative Smoking Products" for the Legislative Council Economic Development Committee. The document will be discussed at the Hong Kong Legislative Council meeting on November 28, 2022.
The documents to be submitted and discussed at the meeting are sourced from the official website of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Earlier, considering the rise of products such as e-cigarettes and their associated health risks, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government amended the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 to ban the import, manufacture, sale, distribution, and promotion of e-cigarettes. The relevant legislation came into effect on April 30, 2022.
After only seven months of implementation, the Hong Kong government acknowledges the significant adverse effect that the ban on the transportation of e-cigarettes has had on the logistics and transportation industries. As a result, the government is urgently looking to amend or establish new legislation in an effort to reverse this situation.
After reviewing the documents from the 2FIRSTS conference, the following key points were extracted through discussion:
According to data from the Transport and Logistics Bureau, the average air cargo volume from May to October 2022 has significantly dropped by 18% compared to the same period last year. One of the reasons for this is due to the implementation of new regulations, which has resulted in Hong Kong losing its transit business for electronic cigarettes and related products from mainland China.
According to the logistics industry, approximately 470 out of 1470 freight forwarding companies, or 32.0%, are involved in the transportation of electronic cigarettes. These companies handle a total of nearly 330,000 tons of electronic cigarettes and related products per year.
The ban on electronic cigarettes and related products being shipped through Hong Kong's cargo transport industry has caused significant economic losses to the region, particularly in the air freight sector, which has seen a 22% drop in exports compared to the same period last year.
The government plans to enhance the current regulatory system for transporting electronic cigarettes in a safe and reliable manner to maintain Hong Kong's status as a leading international aviation and logistics hub, while ensuring the ban on importing products such as e-cigarettes remains steadfast.
In order to quickly ease the impact of transporting e-cigarette products on transportation business, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong plans to submit proposals for amending the relevant legislation to the Legislative Council at the beginning of 2023.
The above regulatory system will be publicly discussed at the Legislative Council's Economic Development Committee meeting on November 28, 2022. Attendees will include Ms. Lin Ya-wen, Deputy Secretary for Transport and Logistics Bureau, Ms. Chu Jui-wen, Chief Assistant Secretary for Transport and Logistics Bureau, Ms. Lin Shui-ping, Assistant Commissioner for Mainland Market Development of the Trade and Industry Department, Ms. Ng Kit-ching, Deputy Head of Customs and Excise (Control and Enforcement)/Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Excise (Boundary and Port), Ms. Lai Sau-ying, General Officer Commanding of Airport Security, and Ms. Chan Ching-sze, Executive Director of Business Development of the Airport Authority.
2FIRSTS will continue to report on the discussions and outcomes of this conference. Further updates will be available on the "2FIRSTSAPP". Scan the QR code below to download the app.
2FIRSTS will continue to monitor and update the latest developments on the electronic cigarette shipment system in Hong Kong. Stay tuned for further updates.
For more information about Hong Kong's plan to lift the ban on e-cigarette transportation, please click on the article titles below to read:
Exclusive Interview with Yunpu Jiahang: Hong Kong and Shenzhen may be able to set up a forward cabin in linkage.
If the ban on the transportation of electronic cigarettes is lifted, should Hong Kong or Shenzhen be chosen?" Note: The original statement is in colloquial Chinese and does not follow standard journalistic English conventions, such as capitalization and proper sentence structure.
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This article includes excerpts from documents such as the "Legislative Council Panel on Economic Development: Strengthening the Regulation of Alternative Smoking Products for Transit" and should be referred to for specific statements.
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