Restrictions on tobacco smoking in enclosed public places in Shanghai, China, are due to be converted into an outright ban, according to a Global Times story citing an eastday.com report.
And, at the same time, restrictions will be included in some outdoor public places.
The new bans and restrictions are scheduled to come into force in March
District health promotion committees were said to have started a two-week campaign on Wednesday aimed at increasing public awareness about the latest regulations.
Officers were said to be organizing theme activities in designated areas.
Citizens are being invited to stop anyone they see smoking in indoor venues and to call a hotline to report them.
Shanghai’s smoking control department will also carry out large-scale crackdowns on indoor smoking.
Smoking-control regulations went into effect seven years ago, but they allowed smoking in designated indoor areas, including those in hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, airports and port stations.
The latest controls will prohibit smoking in certain public outdoor areas, including after-school education centers and children’s hospitals.
Anti-tobacco activists are calling on the Chinese government to impose a nation-wide ban on tobacco smoking in public places, according to a story in The Global Times.
This follows yesterday’s release of the results of a survey suggesting that an overwhelming majority of people support the move.
Nearly 92 percent of the survey respondents were said to have supported a total smoking ban in public areas.
The survey was carried out by the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control but no details were given of the survey’s methodology.
Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the Research Center for Health Development think tank, told the Times that while China had huge public support for a nation-wide smoking ban, a timetable to adopt a law had been on the back burner since the State Council released the Regulations on the Control of Smoking in Public Places on its website for public feedback in November 2014.
“The proposed law has been mainly stymied by tobacco industry officials due to the huge economic interests involved,” said Wu.
The tobacco sector delivered 1.1 trillion yuan ($170 billion) to the state in 2015, a figure that was up by 20.2 percent from that of the previous year, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration said in 2016.
“Some government officials can be blamed for the postponed smoking ban, as they argue their own department should not be included in the regulations as it would directly damage their own interests,” Yang Gonghuan, a professor at Peking Union Medical College, told the Times.
Mao Qunan, a spokesperson with China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, said at the conference where the survey figures were announced that legislation would be just the first step toward a smoking ban. It would also require joint co-operation from other departments to ensure the law was not just “a piece of paper”.
And Shen Jinjin, a National People’s Congress deputy, said at the conference that he would propose a nation-wide smoking ban at the March sessions of China’s annual political meetings.
Subsidiaries of Imperial Brands and the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC) have established a joint venture company whose initial aims are to increase sales of Imperial’s brands in China and those of Chinese brands elsewhere.
Imperial said in a note posted on its website that Global Horizon Ventures Limited (GHVL), which it described as a ‘dynamic long-term’ joint venture (JV) business, would look to develop a ‘variety of growth opportunities in China and international markets’.
But initially it would be focused on:
* leveraging the expertise of China’s largest tobacco company, Yunnan Tobacco, to drive the sustainable growth of Imperial’s Growth Brands West and Davidoff in China; and
* maximising the potential of two Yunnan brands, Jadé and Horizon, in markets outside of China.
Jadé was said to be joining Imperial’s portfolio of Specialist Brands.
‘The partnership has the potential to deliver additional meaningful Growth Brand volumes in the JV’s first five years,’ Imperial said in its note.
‘Further tobacco and next generation product launches, as well as potential M&A [merger and acquisition] opportunities, will also be evaluated by GHVL in due course.’
Imperial Brands chief executive, Alison Cooper, and the chief commissioner of China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Association (STMA), Ling Cheng Xin, formally endorsed the JV during a signing ceremony in Beijing. Imperial’s note was dated January 11, but there was no mention of when the JV was established or when the signing ceremony took place.
“We’re excited by the growth potential offered by this new business opportunity and look forward to seeing our co-operation with our Chinese partners flourish for many years to come,” Cooper was quoted as saying.
GHVL, based in Hong Kong, has been jointly founded by ITL Pacific HK Limited, a subsidiary of Imperial Brands, and Yunnan Tobacco International Company Limited and Tian Li International Company Limited, both units of the CNTC, the operational arm of the STMA.
‘The JV builds on a track record of co-operation which began in 2003 between Imperial and Yunnan Tobacco, China’s number one tobacco company with a market share of over 20 percent,’ Imperial said in its note.
‘China is the largest tobacco market in the world with annual volumes of close to 2.5 trillion cigarettes.’
A footnote to the Imperial announcement said that Yunnan Tobacco International Company Limited was a subsidiary of Yunnan Tobacco Industrial Corporation, in turn a subsidiary of the CNTC; and that Tian Li International Company Limited was a subsidiary of China Tobacco International Inc, in turn a subsidiary of the CNTC.
The city of Shenzhen in China’s Guangdong province implemented from the beginning of this year a tobacco smoking ban in all indoor public places, according to a World Health Organization note.
“Shenzhen will join a growing list of cities around the world where smoking in indoor public venues is completely prohibited, without exception,” said Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer, WHO representative in China.
“A 100 percent smoke-free law is the only way to protect the people and visitors to this city from the toxic harms of second-hand smoke.
“There is no other way: there is simply no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke.”
The Shenzhen tobacco-smoke-free law was said to be a ‘model law’, fully compliant with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
‘The law was adopted in October 2013 as the first comprehensive smoke-free law to be passed in China,’ the WHO noted. ‘However, a grace period was given to certain entertainment and leisure venues to fully comply with the law.’
The period of grace ended on December 31.
Under the law, tobacco smoking is banned also across some outdoor areas, including those associated with schools, educational and healthcare facilities, parks, stadiums and fitness clubs.
In addition, tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship are banned.
‘The law includes strong penalties and enforcement is closely co-ordinated between eight government departments and agencies,’ WHO noted. ‘The challenge now will be to ensure that inspectors have the resources they need and are granted complete access to obtain evidence of violations, and that penalties are consistently imposed.’
WHO said that a draft national smoke-free law was being debated at the State Council.
More than one-third of all cigarettes consumed is either illegally produced in Macau or smuggled into the city, giving Macau has the second-highest incident rate of illegal cigarette consumption in Asia, according to a regional study.
A report titled “Asia-16: Illicit Tobacco Indicator 2014” was commissioned to better understand the use of cigarettes in Macau and how many of these are being sourced illegally, according to a story in the Macau Daily Times. In 2014 approximately 34.5 percent of all cigarettes consumed within the territory were illegal, and more than two-thirds of cigarettes coming into the city from overseas were illegal, the study found.
“It hurts the government financially, effectively wiping out the tax revenues that could have covered this year’s cash payout to more than 20,000 citizens,” Adrian Cooper, CEO of Oxford Economics, reported on the economic effects of the illegal cigarette trade at a press conference. According to Cooper, the estimated revenue loss to the government is MOP185 million.
“Another way to look at this is that it’s equal to 0.7 percent of the total non-gaming revenues,” said Cooper.
The most popular cigarette brand is sold at MOP30 locally, compared with only MOP9 for the most popular brand in China, making cigarettes more than three times as expensive in Macau as they are in the mainland of China.
“The difference in price creates an incentive for cross-border trade in cigarettes,” said Cooper, “which is facilitated by [significant] cross-border traffic in Macau.” Cooper stated that there is also a “lack of rigorous custom enforcement at the border.”
According the report, 0.4 billion of the 1.1 billion cigarettes consumed in the city last year were illegal. Approximately 141 million cigarettes originated in mainland China, and 117 million were from Hong Kong; however, only 10 million were counterfeits produced within Macau.
To combat the issue of illicit cigarettes, Cooper stated that a three-pronged approach would be required, according to the Times.
“The government should consider introducing a balanced excise policy with regular but moderate tax increases to keep excise tax at pace with inflation,” he said. “It is also essential to step up law enforcement efforts and, at the same time, raise public awareness on the serious consequences of selling and buying illegal cigarettes.”
Hon Lik, the Chinese inventor of the modern e-cigarette, has predicted that Beijing’s new public-places smoking ban will prompt many consumers to switch from smoking to vaping. Although China’s e-cigarette market is still relatively small compared to those in other countries and smoking rates in China remain high, the ban—which took effect June 1—could be the push smokers need to quit combustible cigarettes.
Anyone who violates the ban on smoking in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools and certain outdoor public places will be fined CNY200 ($32.35). Other cities in China are expected to follow suit by implementing similar smoking bans as governments seek to improve public health.
The Crimean government has announced that a visiting delegation of Chinese businessmen intend to invest in tobacco cultivation within the territory, which was annexed by Russia in March 2014. Chinese equipment and technology would be supplied to the semiautonomous territory, which has been fighting to secure foreign investment amid trade sanctions imposed by Ukraine, the United States and the European Union following Russia’s annexation of the region.
“Tobacco is in huge demand in China, and Crimea has a suitable climate and soil for tobacco cultivation,” the delegation’s leader, Chen Zhijun, was quoted by news agency TASS as saying at a meeting with Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov.
Aksyonov and Chen on June 4 signed a protocol on investment cooperation, according to a press release posted on the Crimean government’s website.
Lawmakers in China may introduce tough new restrictions on tobacco advertisements, according to a story in the China Daily. A draft revision to the country’s 20-year-old Advertisements Law will be voted upon tomorrow; the revision was discussed Tuesday at the bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and is likely to be ratified.
The draft indicates that no tobacco advertisements should be displayed in public places or published in mass media outlets. While many lawmakers advocate a complete ban on tobacco advertisements in China and maintain that public health should be the country’s top priority, others recognize that the production of tobacco provides a significant source of income for farmers who reside in areas that are not suitable for other types of agriculture.
China signed the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003.
China’s tobacco companies produced more cigarettes even as the number of tobacco farms decreased in the first half of 2014, reports Xinhua News Agency quoting figures from the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA).
In the January-June period, Chinese cigarette manufacturers produced 1.3 million sticks, 0.2 percent more than in the first half of 2013. Meanwhile, the area of farming land dedicated to tobacco fell by 170,000 hectares to 1.23 million hectares, according to the STMA.
The tobacco industry generated RMB579.54 billion ($94 billion) in revenue for the Chinese government over the first half of 2014. Tobacco taxes constituted about 7.8 percent of China’s fiscal revenues during that period, according to the Finance Ministry and the STMA.
China’s cigarette production has soared over the past decade, despite efforts to curtail tobacco use, according to a new study, reported by China Daily.
Annual cigarette production in the world’s most populous country has increased 50 percent over the past 10 years, according to the report Tobacco Control in China from a Civil Society Perspective 2013. In the 12 months to October, Chinese tobacco companies produced 2.175 trillion cigarettes.
The latest finding echoed a similar recent assessment by the World Health Organization (WHO), which rates China as a poor performer among countries that have joined the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The WHO assessment awarded China two of a possible 16 points on public smoking control, and zero points on tobacco advertising control. Moreover, the country’s tobacco tax rate, at 43.4 percent, is still below the world average, the assessment noted.
