Notice of Public Consultation on Shenzhen Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Draft)

On December 18, 2024, the Shenzhen Tobacco Monopoly Bureau announced on its government website the solicitation of opinions on the "Implementation Measures for Administrative Penalty Discretion of the Shenzhen Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)." The announcement openly requested suggestions from the public, and a total of 2 opinions were received within the specified deadline. After carefully analyzing and studying each opinion, the bureau will now explain the adopted opinions as follows:

Regarding Article 22, some opinions suggest that administrative penalties that are currently undergoing administrative reconsideration or administrative litigation, or have already been decided upon by the reconsideration authority or court, should not be ordered to be corrected. Therefore, the phrase "should be ordered to correct" in Article 22 of the draft for comments should be modified to "should be ordered to correct in accordance with the law" in order to guide and supervise the exercise of discretion in administrative penalties by the Shenzhen Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and correct any inappropriate penalty actions that are found.

The opinion is legally valid and reasonable, and will be adopted.

Regarding Appendix 1, some opinions point out that in items 24 to 29 of the "solicitation draft" in Appendix 1, "e-cigarette" is specified under "tobacco," but in items 2 to 13 and 15 to 22, "tobacco" does not specify "e-cigarette." The inconsistency in the text can easily lead to misunderstandings. Also, according to relevant laws, regulations, and normative documents related to e-cigarettes, it is believed that the penalties in Appendix 1 of the "solicitation draft" should include penalties for e-cigarettes.

After conducting research, the opinion was not accepted for the following reasons:

According to Article 17 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors, parents or other guardians of minors are not allowed to engage in the following behaviors: (4) Allowing or inciting minors to smoke (including e-cigarettes, the same below), drink alcohol, gamble, beg or bully others. Therefore, Appendix 1 of the draft for soliciting opinions specifically clarifies the scope of "smoking" in items 24 to 29, in order to fully implement the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Minors of the People's Republic of China. In addition, other illegal activities involving e-cigarettes are not the focus of this draft for soliciting opinions.

This is to announce.

Shenzhen Tobacco Monopoly Bureau

January 14, 2025