Significant Decrease in Teen Smoking and E-cigarette Use in China

On December 21, 2024, the first "China Internet Tobacco Control" white paper was released at Xiamen University. The white paper analysis pointed out that since the first Chinese Youth Tobacco Survey in 2014, the smoking rate of middle school students and the use of e-cigarettes in 2023 showed a decline for the first time. The work of Internet tobacco control has achieved initial results in the protection of minors. At the same time, the white paper put forward several suggestions to improve the Internet tobacco control system, emphasizing that government departments, Internet industry associations, platform companies, users and other parties need to work together to promote the work of Internet tobacco control.

Regulation of the internet tobacco industry has shown significant results.

The white paper points out that China has now established a comprehensive regulatory system for internet-based tobacco control, consisting of international conventions, laws, administrative regulations, local regulations, departmental rules, local government regulations, normative documents, etc., overall ensuring the existence of legal basis. This rule of law foundation provides a solid guarantee for carrying out internet-based tobacco control work in accordance with the law.

A white paper notes that Article 22 of the amended Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China in 2015 prohibits the dissemination of tobacco advertisements in mass media. The Implementing Regulations of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China amended in 2021 states in Article 65 that new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes are subject to the relevant provisions of this article regarding cigarettes. These two rounds of legislation provide a legal basis for effectively cleaning up illegal information related to tobacco on the Internet and regulating illegal sales activities, translating into tangible governance effectiveness.

According to the analysis in the white paper, since 2015, there has been a significant decrease in the number of tobacco-related information on the internet, showing an exponential decline. The "2021 China Youth Tobacco Survey Report" shows that the proportion of middle school students who have seen tobacco product advertisements or videos on the internet has significantly decreased compared to 2014. The white paper analysis pointed out that since the first Chinese youth tobacco survey in 2014, the smoking rate and e-cigarette usage rate among middle school students have shown a decrease in 2023 for the first time, indicating that the internet tobacco regulation work has achieved preliminary results in protecting minors.

Online clean-up and offline control require coordinated governance.

The white paper systematically examines the legal regulatory system of China's internet tobacco supervision and conducts legal analysis. The report details the main characteristics of current illegal tobacco-related activities on the internet, including the privatization of trading platforms, the emergence of new types of tobacco products, and the integration of online and offline channels. The white paper points out that these new characteristics pose significant challenges to the current regulatory system and urgently require further innovative regulatory measures.

To address these challenges, the white paper proposes adopting a collaborative governance approach of "online clean-up" and "offline control" to continuously strengthen and improve the effectiveness of internet tobacco control. Meanwhile, the white paper points out that there is a certain degree of lack of connection between online regulation and offline regulation. For example, tobacco administrative authorities have more offline regulatory powers, but almost no mandatory online regulatory measures, leading to a mismatch between regulatory authority and effective regulatory demand, significantly hindering the overall effectiveness of internet tobacco control.

The white paper further suggests that the judicial mechanism should be fully utilized in the regulation of tobacco on the internet, employing analogical reasoning to handle new situations involving online tobacco issues, unifying judgment criteria and standards, and increasing judicial transparency.

The white paper emphasizes that the regulation of tobacco-related content on the internet is a comprehensive project that is crucial to the health and safety of the general public, especially minors. It involves not only market supervision, internet information administration, tobacco monopoly, public security, customs, postal services, education, and health departments, but also various social organizations such as internet industry associations, platform enterprises, and users as market entities. It requires coordinated efforts from all parties to form a joint regulatory force.