China’s tobacco regulator has just concluded a two-month blitz on the e-cigarette market, which took aim at illicit online marketing and sales to minors.
E-cigarettes have repeatedly come into the regulatory crosshairs in China, as authorities sought to restrict how they can be sold based on concerns over their potential health impact and use by under-18s. Eye-catching designs and flavors have been blamed for a spike in young nonsmokers taking up the devices, according to a story on caixinglobal.com.
The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly said Wednesday they had removed over 23,000 videos and links promoting the products from the internet and shuttered almost 5,000 sales platforms.
Informa Markets Creative has announced it will hold the IECIE Shenzhen e-cigarette expo on August 20-22. The event will also be held virtually, simultaneously as the live event. The cost is $10 before July 20 and $20 after that date.
“This virtual expo is estimated to attract 10,000 vape users across the world, bringing more than 2500 vape exhibitors to go virtually to engage business online through any devices,” a press release states. “It’s especially designed to allow private business video/text chatting, business arrangement with vape brands and new product live showcases and multiple features to audiences.”
Visitors can login to the virtual expo beginning July 20 until August 20 to review all the vape brands profiles and product catalogs, the release states. Meanwhile exhibiting products preview and business meeting arrangements between visitors and exhibitors are also available during this period. All the private business meetings can be directly carried out inside the virtual expo in 3 days during 20-22 August.
IECIE Shenzhen eCig Expo is the largest e-cigarette exhibition in Asia, bringing together upstream industries, battery and power management Chips and Solutions, Battery and Power Management, Heating System, E-juice Flavors and Related Products while mainly displaying some finished products : Disposable pods, atomizer, mods kits, e-liquid (letter nicotine salt e-liquid), heating non-combustion equipment, OEM / ODM / brand , etc, according to the release.
The 2020 IECIE Virtual Expo has several features, including:
An AI buyer recommendation system
Adopting AI EXPO artificial intelligence platform to collect key information from visitor registration form and clicks, recommend products of corresponding exhibitor company to visitors. Once attendees enter the virtual expo, they will be asked to choose from a range of interests from product like mods, pods system to fields like vape businesses and even vape magazines. With these tags, attendees can filter all the exhibitors in the hall to locate their most wanted targets by clicking recommend button on the upside of the floorplan and making their way to the targeted exhibitor.
A Show Room
Multi-platform live broadcasting ensuring smooth and clear video during the exhibition. With a cloud system support, IECIE virtual expo enables visitors to video chat, text chat, voice chat, and even watch the on-site broadcasting from IECIE physical event.
A business matching system
The business matching system will allow for making appointments for business negotiations in advance, multimedia communication with buyers (video, Voice chatting etc.) and efficiently arrange private product demonstration for visitors.
Push notifications for SMS and Email
SMS or email reminder outside the platform will allow attendees to never let go of any message. Once business meeting requirements have been approved, the notification will be sent to an attendee via email or SMS so that they won’t miss any requests, according to the release.
In a first for China, a store owner in Shenzhen has been fined 2,000 yuan ($280) for failing to display required warnings against smoking, according to local news outlet Yangcheng Evening News.
The report said the shop had flouted Shenzhen’s recently updated regulations banning vaping indoors and selling e-cigarettes on WeChat, China’s most widely used social app. In addition, two people who had been vaping inside the store were fined 50 yuan each, according to a story posted on sixthtone.com.
Xiong Jingfan, the manager of Shenzhen’s “smoke-free city” campaign, told Yangcheng Evening News that selling e-cigarettes on social platforms — despite being prevalent across the country — had become illegal under the recent ban.
In 2019, Shenzhen authorities amended the definition of a “cigarette” in the city’s smoking regulation to include e-cigarettes. Under the law’s new interpretation, shops selling such products were required to post two warning signs at visible locations: one stipulating that smoking is harmful to one’s health, and another noting that cigarettes cannot be sold to minors.
The regulation also forbids vaping indoors and in public places.
Despite the city’s stringent ban, Shenzhen is the world’s largest e-cigarette producer, accounting for around 90 percent of the global market share.
This is not the first time China has attempted to crack down on the domestic e-cigarette industry. Last November, the country’s state tobacco monopoly issued a nationwide e-cigarette ban, suspending the online sale and advertisement of such products. The ban, dubbed the “winter of e-cigarette merchants,” was aimed at keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of minors. In 2018, China Tobacco had prohibited merchants from selling e-cigarettes — collectively referred to as Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, or ENDS — to minors.
Shenzhen’s restrictions on e-cigarettes attracted controversy online, however, after many netizens pointed out the authorities’ apparent double standard when it comes to smoking — namely, that regulations on cigarettes, which are sold by the government, are still relatively lax.
