China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) has appointed Liu Sanjiang as its deputy director, reports 2Firsts.
Previously, Liu served as the director of the department of quality development at the State Administration for Market Regulation,
This appointment follows a series of corruption investigations targeting senior STMA officials.
The STMA is the country’s official regulatory body overseeing the tobacco industry and market, including NGPs such as e-cigarettes.
Elfbar and Lost Mary have created a board in the U.K. to provide strategic advice for the brands.
Board members are from across relevant disciplines in the U.K. with senior-level experience, including in the national and local government, the medical profession and law enforcement.
The newly formed advisory board also serves Heaven Gifts, the company that manages Elfbar and Lost Mary.
“The creation of this advisory board marks a milestone in the global operations of Elfbar and Lost Mary. This aligns with our long-term commitment as the responsible market leader for the vaping sector worldwide, and our exploration of the smoking cessation role vaping products play,” said Heaven Gifts Global Vice-President Victor Xiao in a statement.
“This board further signals our intent to address concerns around, for example, youth vaping, the environmental impact, and illicit trade. Starting in the U.K., we are looking to bring this mechanism to more global markets, particularly those in Europe.”
Members of the advisory board include Steve Bennett, former director of investigations at the National Crime Agency; George Eustice, former member of parliament and secretary of state for the department of environment, food and rural affairs; Susie Kemp, former CEO of Swindon Borough council and deputy chief executive of Surrey county council; Lord Porter, former council leader and chair of the Local Government Association; Sairah Salim-Sartoni, a health psychologist with extensive experience in smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction; and Lord Walney, a former member of parliament and special advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Lord Hutton.
On June 14, Next Level Ventures, a Seattle-based marijuana vape maker, filed a counterclaim in federal court in California. The company claims that Shenzhen Smoore Technology Co. has been engaging in a “years-long battle to unlawfully restrain competition in the closed cannabis vaporizer market” based on false patent claims.
Smoore, which markets vape devices under its CCell brand, has not yet responded to the claim, according to court records.
In its counterclaim, Next Level pointed out that vaporizer technology claimed by Smoore was “displayed and offered for sale” as early as the 2016 Marijuana Business Conference & Expo (the predecessor to MJBiz’s MJBizCon), according to media reports.
That happened before Smoore filed for patent protection.
At least one patent Smoore is using to pursue claims was “fraudulently obtained,” Next Level alleges.
According to Next Level’s counterclaim, Smoore’s complaint to the ITC was motivated by flagging sales.
Smoore’s market share for products sold under the CCell brand fell from 80% of the market “to approximately 50-60%” by 2022, Next Level’s counterclaim alleges.
Hong Kong announced plans for a complete prohibition on e-cigarettes, citing a “consensus” on the necessity for action and their impact on the health of youth.
The move comes nearly two years after the city banned the import, manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
“We will fully ban all alternative smoking products,” Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said at a news conference, reports Barron’s.
Hong Kong already bans the possession of e-cigarettes “for commercial purposes,” and the latest proposal would extend the ban to retail buyers, even if they intended to smoke in private.
Under existing laws, anyone in Hong Kong who imports e-cigarettes can be punished by up to seven years in jail and a fine of HK$2 million ($256,000), while sellers and manufacturers can be jailed for up to six months.
“A blanket ban on alternative smoking [vaping and heat-not-burn] products has become a consensus in society … It is time to ban all forms of possession of alternative smoking products, including for personal use,” said Deputy Secretary for Health Eddie Lee.
City officials also announced other smoking curbs, including a ban on smoking while standing in line in outdoor public areas and sharing cigarettes with minors.
The government also proposed banning flavored tobacco. Lo said he hoped the e-cigarette ban and other proposals would be introduced to the legislature this year.
Hong Kong has started a public health consultation held that includes a proposal for a generational ban on vaping and other tobacco products. Generational Bans are often referred to as “tobacco endgame” strategies.
Last year, Hong Kong’s Council on Smoking and Health proposed a generational ban to begin in 2027 that would outlaw vaping and other tobacco product sales to anyone born from 2009.
The public consultation consists of a nationwide survey which started last Wednesday and ends on September 30th.
Health minister Lo Chung-Mau said that the consultation is based on four anti-smoking strategies, among which a lifetime ban on cigarettes for locals born after a set date.
Hong Kong’s government has set a goal of reducing the percentage of adults who smoke from 9.5 percent in 2021 to 7.8 percent by 2025. To do so, it is exploring four strategies:
The first two strategies mentioned for reducing tobacco use are increasing taxes and introducing new age restrictions.
“With the efforts on education and publicity over the years, the smoking prevalence of youth in Hong Kong has dropped to a low level,” said the document, though the government also believes that increasing the minimum age to purchase tobacco from its current requirement of 18-years-old to 21-years-old wouldn’t be effective, according to media reports. So instead, it’s considering what’s known as a generational tobacco ban.
New Zealand passed a generational ban late last year and recent efforts have been made to introduce additional bans in other countries, including bills in California, Hawaii and Nevada. Malaysia is also considering a generational ban.
The generational ban is just one of a litany of strategies mentioned in the document. Other regulations being considered include plain packaging, restrictions on retailers displaying products, nicotine limits and higher tobacco taxes.
China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration released the Guidelines for Promoting the Building of Quality Assurance Systems for Exported Electronic Cigarette Products on July 20, according to 2Firsts, which published a translated version of the release.
The guidelines consist of 18 articles covering the following:
The guidelines are interpreted by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA). The guidelines “shall be implemented” from the date of issuance, according to the STMA.
A former health secretary in Hong Kong on Sunday said it is not ideal for the government to allow e-cigarettes to be re-exported via the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.
A ban on alternative smoking products came into force in the SAR in April last year.
But there was an exemption for re-export via air cargo and the authorities want to extend this to sea-to-air and land-to-air shipments, to support the logistics sector.
Former Secretary Sophia Chan said such a move would be risky, especially with Hong Kong aiming to further reduce its smoking population from the current 9.5 percent to 7.8 percent.
The Council on Smoking and Health said earlier that a relaxation regarding re-exports would inevitably increase the diversion of such products into the community and significantly weaken the effectiveness of the city’s ban on alternative smoking products, according to RTHK.
“The process to fully ban e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products was difficult, but we did it. The main reason we did it was to reduce the risk,” said Chan.
“On the one hand, we understand the government needs to boost the economy after the pandemic. But on the other hand, we should push ahead with tobacco control efforts for people’s health and to reach the 7.8 percent goal in 2025.”
Air exports from Hong Kong will see a boost following a decision by the government to reverse a ban on the transshipment of e-cigarettes and other vaping products.
Media reports claim the banned cargo amounts to about 330,000 tons a year – the equivalent of some 10 percent of Hong Kong’s annual export volumes by air, according to the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics (HAFFA), according to Loadstar.
The value of the re-export cargo affected by the ban was estimated to exceed CNY120 billion ($17.33 billion).
While some transshipment by air had continued to be permitted, beginning in April of last year, vapes entering Hong Kong by land or sea for onward transport by air were banned. However, with the bulk of these products made in neighboring Dongguan, exporters were keen to ship them via land to Hong Kong International Airport.
Once the proposal is passed, the goods will be able to enter Hong Kong through a secure channel on dedicated barges and be delivered straight to the airport.
“The scheme is only to facilitate direct transshipment through Hong Kong and the goods will not be available for domestic consumption. The proposal is in response to the demand of the Hong Kong air freight industry”, said Willy Lin, chairman of the Hong Kong Shippers Council.
“We hope we could get back some flights lost to competitor airports due to [the] stoppage of shipments of e-cigarettes and related substances through Hong Kong”.
Customs officers have made Hong Kong’s first arrest over cannabidiol (CBD) products after taking a clubhouse worker into custody when he showed up to collect a parcel from Denmark containing two bottles of the recently banned oil.
Officers found two more used bottles of the same CBD skin oil and four grams of cannabis buds from the man’s locker at the clubhouse of a residence in Yau Ma Tei on Wednesday, according to SCMP.
Combined with the banned CBD product, the haul was worth about HK$5,000 ($637).
The case was the first such arrest and seizure since CBD was added to the Dangerous Drug Ordinance, according to Isaac Tsang Yau-chuen, a senior investigator from the customs airport investigation division.
Once legal in the city, Hong Kong began enforcing its ban on CBD, labeling it as a “dangerous drug” and imposing harsh penalties for its possession on Wednesday. The move is forcing fledging businesses to shut down or revamp.
THC, the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana has long been illegal in Hong Kong.
CBD was once legal in the city, and cafes and shops selling CBD-infused products were popular among young people, according to AP.
But all that has changed with the prohibition, which took effect Wednesday but had been announced by the government last year. CBD-related businesses have closed down while others have struggled to remodel their businesses. Consumers dumped what they saw as a cure for their ailments into special collection boxes set up around the city.
The new rule reflects a zero-tolerance policy toward dangerous drugs in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous southern Chinese business hub, as well as in mainland China, where CBD was banned in 2022.
In contrast. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently concluded that a new regulatory pathway for cannabidiol (CBD) is needed. The regulatory agency states it will seek guidance from the U.S. Congress. The new rules would need to balance individuals’ desire for access to CBD products with the regulatory oversight needed to manage risks.