Regulations on Warning Signs of Electronic Cigarettes
To standardize the warning signs of electronic cigarettes, these Provisions are drafted in accordance with the People's Republic of China's Tobacco Monopoly Law, the People's Republic of China's Product Quality Law, the People's Republic of China's Implementation Regulations of the People's Republic of China's Tobacco Monopoly Law, the Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes (Announcement No.1 of the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau in 2022),
Article 1 These Provisions shall apply to electronic cigarettes sold within the territory of the People's Republic of China and their sales packages.
Article 2 E-cigarettes and their sales packages should be marked with warning signs and use the standardized Chinese characters of the People's Republic of China.
Article 3 The contents of warnings are divided into three groups.
Group 1: Smoking electronic cigarettes is harmful to health. Please don't smoke electronic cigarettes in no-smoking places.
Group 2: Quitting electronic cigarettes as soon as possible is beneficial to health. Quitting electronic cigarettes can reduce the harm to health.
Group 3: Discourage teenagers from smoking electronic cigarettes and prohibit primary and middle school students from smoking electronic cigarettes.
Article 4 The first group of warning signs shall be used on the front (mainly visible) and the second and third groups of warning signs shall be used alternately on the back. If there is only one main meeting, the first group of warning signs should be used regularly, and the second and third groups of warning signs should be used alternately in the same plane.
Every year, e-cigarettes with the same brand, specification, package, and bar code, as well as their sales packages in the market circulation, shall have different warnings. It is not necessary that e-cigarettes correspond to their sales packaging one by one when using them.
Article 5 The warning area should be positioned on the bottom half of the surface and should cover at least 35.0 percent of the surface. The warning zone should be clearly delineated by separating lines (boxes). The dividing line should be an uninterrupted straight line that is closed or closed with the frame (along), and its line width (frame) should be 1.0mm. The police zone does not include the dividing line (box). The warning sign area should not be blocked, erased, or cut off, and designs and signs other than warning signs are not permitted to enter.
Article 6 The words "Prompt from our company" should be marked in the warning area, which is located at the top of the first group of warning signs.
Article 7 The warning sign area and the characters within it should be clear, eye-catching, and easy to detect, with the typeface in bold type. The positive visual direction or vertical direction of the trademark words or designs should be compatible with the direction of the characters. The marking method should be direct printing (manufacturing) and non-pasting, with sufficient durability to assure legibility under regular use conditions.
If the warning area is 48.0cm2, the height of the characters should be 4.5mm, and the proportion of characters in the warning area should be 13.3 percent; if the area is less than 48.0cm2, the height of the characters should be 2.0mm, and the proportion of characters in the warning area should be 28.9 percent.
Article 8 The color difference between the text and the background in the warning area is △Eab≥40, and the original background color can be used as the background color.
Article 9 In the sales package, inner package, logo, and product instructions of electronic cigarettes, misleading and inducing language such as "health care, curative effect, safety, environmental protection, low harm, harm reduction, smoking cessation, substitution, high quality, performance improvement, addiction, and no harm to health" and other relevant functional terms, "light taste, super light taste, softness, low tar, no tar, no tar" are prohibited.
Article 10 The labeling of nicotine components and other contents shall conform to the relevant requirements of relevant national regulations.
Article 11 The State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Provisions.
Article 12 These Provisions shall come into force as of the date of promulgation.
Policy Interpretation of "Provisions on Identification of Electronic Cigarette Alarm Signss"
The State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau investigated and drafted the Regulations on Warning Indicators of E-cigarettes in order to standardize the warning signs of e-cigarettes. The pertinent data is interpreted as follows:
I. the background and process of the formulation of "Provisions on Identification of Electronic Cigarette Alarm Signss"
The "Decision of the State Council on Amending the Regulations for the Implementation of the People's Republic of China's Tobacco Monopoly Law" was officially promulgated and implemented on November 10, 2021, clarifying that "new tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes shall be implemented with reference to the relevant provisions of these regulations on cigarettes." The Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes were officially released on March 11, 2022, and stated unequivocally that "electronic cigarette goods should conform with the relevant legislation on package labels and warnings of electronic cigarette products."
Standardizing e-cigarette warning signs is an effective way to remind consumers that smoking e-cigarettes is harmful to their health, to remind them not to smoke e-cigarettes in non-smoking areas, to discourage teenagers from smoking e-cigarettes, to prohibit primary and secondary school students from smoking e-cigarettes, and to prohibit misleading and inducing consumers, especially minors, to smoke e-cigarettes. It is an unavoidable obligation to legalize and standardize e-cigarettes while protecting customers' lawful rights and interests.
According to the Law of the People's Republic of China on Tobacco Monopoly, the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China and the Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes (No. 1 of the Announcement of State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau) and the Compulsory National Standard of Electronic Cigarette (GB 41700-2022) and other laws, regulations and normative documents, the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau has formulated the Regulations on the Identification of Electronic Cigarette Warning Signs on the basis of full study.
II. the main contents of Provisions on Identification of Electronic Cigarette Alarm Signs
Provisions on Identification of Electronic Cigarette Alarm Signs contain twelve items. The following are the primary contents: First, the application's scope is defined. The second step is to define the warning words' substance and rotation criteria. Third, the standards for the warning area's location, area, and dividing line are clarified. The fourth step is to define the term "warning." Fifth, the standards for warning message font, size, color contrast with background, and so on are clarified. Sixth, it is expressly prohibited to employ deceptive or inciting wording.
