The latest mandatory national standards have come, and all kinds of flavored electronic cigarettes will become a thing of the past.

　　□ Rule of Law Daily reporter Wan Jing

　　Recently, the General Administration of Market Supervision and the National Standardization Administration Committee approved the release of the mandatory national standard GB 41700-2022 "E-cigarette" (hereinafter referred to as the "national standard for e-cigarettes"), which will be implemented on October 1 this year.

　　It is worth noting that the new national standard for e-cigarettes focuses on strengthening the protection of minors, and has made detailed standards on the taste, use safety and protection of minors of e-cigarettes.

　　In view of the strong attraction of flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine-free e-cigarettes such as fruits, foods and beverages to minors, it is easy to induce them to smoke. The "National Standard for E-cigarettes" stipulates that the characteristic flavor of products should not present other flavors except tobacco, and explicitly requires that "atomized products should contain nicotine", that is, e-cigarette products without nicotine should not enter the market for sale.

　　Merchants take health as a gimmick.

　　Lure minors to eat.

　　E-cigarette, as an electronic imitation of cigarettes, has been sought after by many people in recent years, including many minors such as primary and secondary school students. Driven by interests, some unscrupulous merchants have opened cigarette shops to areas where minors are concentrated, such as primary and secondary schools and kindergartens, which has increased the convenience for minors to contact and buy cigarettes.

　　In addition to being easy to buy, the variety of tastes is another reason to attract minors. Some merchants use self-built websites, WeChat official account, small programs and other online media to lure and sell electronic cigarettes, and publicize "all kinds of flavored electronic cigarettes such as fruity, floral, sweet and beverage flavors" that are attractive to young people; Some e-cigarette merchants even use "cool", "health" and "fashion" as gimmicks to lure minors to buy and smoke.

　　Due to the availability of e-cigarettes in online and offline channels, the proportion of young people exposed to e-cigarettes is increasing. According to the survey results of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention on tobacco among middle school students in China in 2019, the proportion of middle school students who heard of e-cigarettes in 2019 was 69.9%, and the utilization rate of e-cigarettes was 2.7%, which increased by 24.9 and 1.5 percentage points respectively compared with 2014.

　　How to solve the chaotic problem of e-cigarette sales in time and effectively protect the physical and mental health of minors has aroused great concern from all walks of life.

　　After the implementation of the "national standard for e-cigarettes", all kinds of flavored e-cigarettes with fruit flavor, flower fragrance and sweetness that are attractive to young people will become a thing of the past.

　　The "national standard for electronic cigarettes" clearly stipulates that the design of aerosol should not be induced by minors, and the characteristic flavor of the product should not present other flavors except tobacco; E-cigarette smoking sets and shells of e-cigarette liquid should have closed structures to prevent artificial filling; Electronic cigarette smoking set should have the function of preventing children from starting and the protection function of preventing accidental starting; The white list of additives has been reduced from 122 to 101.

　　Set a five-month transition period

　　Enterprises should meet the standards as soon as possible.

　　The reporter noted that the "Administrative Measures for Electronic Cigarettes" was officially implemented on May 1, and the "National Standard for Electronic Cigarettes" was officially implemented on October 1 this year. Why is there a "five-month" time difference between them?

　　In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Market Supervision explained that considering that after the release of the "National Standard for Electronic Cigarettes", electronic cigarette manufacturers need to carry out compliance design of products, complete product transformation, apply for product testing and technical review from relevant departments, etc., all of which will take some time, so a five-month implementation transition period is set.

　　During the transition period, the existing e-cigarette production and operation entities before November 10th last year can continue to carry out production and operation activities, and should apply for relevant licenses and product technical review as required, design products in compliance and complete product transformation. The transition period will end on September 30th this year. E-cigarette manufacturers should achieve product standards as soon as possible during the transition period.

　　According to the relevant provisions of Article 25 of the Standardization Law, products and services that do not meet the mandatory standards shall not be produced, sold, imported or provided. The "national standard for electronic cigarettes" will be officially implemented on October 1 this year. After the formal implementation of the standard, the electronic cigarette products sold in the market must meet the national standards.

　　It is reported that the tobacco monopoly administrative department will urge all kinds of e-cigarette market players to carry out production and business operations according to laws and regulations, and investigate and deal with violations of relevant policy requirements during the transition period according to law. Cooperate with relevant departments to strengthen special governance, focus on cleaning up electronic cigarette sales outlets and electronic cigarette vending machines around primary and secondary schools, delete information on online sales of electronic cigarettes, investigate and deal with illegal cases such as selling electronic cigarettes to minors, and detect criminal cases of new drugs such as adding synthetic cannabinoids, so as to effectively protect and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minors and consumers.

　　If you find illegal activities such as selling e-cigarettes to minors, producing and selling fake and inferior e-cigarettes products, and selling e-cigarettes through information networks, you can call the 12313 tobacco market supervision service hotline or provide clues about illegal activities through reporting channels published in various places.

　　Regulatory measures continued to strengthen.

　　Prevent the resurgence of chaos

　　The reporter noted that in recent years, the e-cigarette market has grown significantly in China. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 40,000 enterprises in China whose names or business scope include "electronic cigarettes and electronic atomizers". As the most concentrated area of e-cigarette manufacturers, Guangdong has more than 11,000 e-cigarette related enterprises.

　　Since 2018, China has successively introduced a series of regulatory measures for the e-cigarette industry, especially for minors who are easy to fall into the temptation trap, prohibiting online sales of e-cigarettes, and gradually strengthening the regulatory measures for e-cigarettes.

　　On November 1, 2019, the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and the General Administration of Market Supervision jointly issued the Notice on Further Protecting Minors from E-cigarettes, urging enterprises or individuals producing and selling e-cigarettes to close the e-cigarette Internet sales websites or clients in time; Urge the e-commerce platform to close the e-cigarette shop in time and take the e-cigarette products off the shelves in time; Urge enterprises or individuals producing and selling e-cigarettes to withdraw e-cigarette advertisements published through the Internet.

　　In July 2021, the General Administration of Market Supervision and the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau jointly issued the "Special Action Plan for Protecting Minors from Tobacco". The action plan calls for strict investigation and punishment of illegal acts of selling cigarettes to minors, continuous strengthening of network monitoring and intensified crackdown on illegal acts; Comprehensively and strictly supervise the business behavior of e-cigarettes, improve the supervision efficiency, standardize the production and business activities of e-cigarettes, and prevent the chaos in the e-cigarette market from "resurgence".