In South Korea, some tobacco products sold are classified as "cigarette-like products." A typical example is liquid-type electronic cigarettes that cannot be called cigarettes because the definition of tobacco in the Tobacco Business Act is too narrow.
According to the Tobacco Business Law, tobacco is defined as "manufactured in a state suitable for smoking, sucking, inhaling vapor, chewing, or sniffing raw tobacco leaves as all or part of the raw material." In other words, only products made from tobacco "leaves" belong in the category of cigarettes. According to current law, tobacco products made from stems, roots or synthesizing nicotine using chemicals do not belong to cigarettes. Therefore, cigarettes of this kind currently evade various government regulations.
Similar to cigarettes that are not subject to regulations such as warning labels, advertising restrictions, and electronic transaction bans on their packaging, a revision of local tax laws now allows for the taxation of cigarette-like products made from tobacco stems or roots since August of last year. However, even cigarette-like products made from synthetic nicotine are not subject to tobacco taxation.
According to the National Center for Tobacco Control, most of the liquid e-cigarettes currently available on the market are similar to traditional cigarettes. An official from the center explained that it is difficult to determine the exact size of the market, but in the realm of liquid e-cigarettes, there are few products made from tobacco leaves which fall under the category of tobacco business law.
Experts suggest that the urgent task at hand is to extend the scope of cigarette regulation to include other products similar to cigarettes and to ensure that they do not escape government supervision. According to Lee Sung-gyu, Director of the Korean Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, "All laws related to tobacco regulation follow the definition of tobacco in the Tobacco Business Act, so the definition itself needs to be expanded.
In response to this issue, South Korean Democratic Party Representative Choi Hae-young proposed an amendment to the Tobacco Business Act during the 21st National Assembly, seeking to include nicotine-based vaping products and similar products under the category of tobacco. This proposal is currently under review by the Planning and Finance Committee. "Especially with the increasing use of liquid electronic cigarettes among young people in recent years," stated Li, the head of the center.
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