Who should supervise e-cigarette market?

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration completed soliciting public opinion on their draft amendment to the tobacco monopoly law on Friday. The amendment will extend the guidelines governing cigarettes to new tobacco products, such as electronic cigarettes.

This means the use of e-cigarettes will be under stricter supervision. By the end of 2020, China’s e-cigarette market was worth 8.33 billion yuan ($1.28 billion) and it could exceed 10 billion yuan this year. It is therefore necessary to have a supervising body to oversee the functioning of the e-cigarette market, in order to ensure it does not violate any laws. But, who will do it? There is no clarity on that in the existing law.

The answer could lie in the draft amendment. Still, some problems need to be addressed.

On April 20, the Beijing Tobacco Control Association said it had objected to the amendment, as it could mean China Tobacco, which monopolizes the country’s tobacco sales, will also supervise the functioning of the e-cigarette market. Many others have raised the same objection, saying China Tobacco, which itself sells tobacco, should not be allowed to supervise the market.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration supervises the e-cigarette market, while in the United Kingdom it is the Department of Public Health. And the World Health Organization has proposed that China authorize a government department independent of tobacco enterprises to do the job.

The STMA is qualified to supervise the e-cigarette market. Third-party supervision can be introduced, but the third party should not be an independent supervising body, for it could lead to inadequate supervision. Besides, very strict supervision could prove counter-productive for the e-cigarettes industry.

The most appropriate way to supervise the e-cigarette market might be to continue with the existing policy of allowing the STMA to do the job. Of course, given the conflict of interest, the STMA could consider establishing a new agency to supervise the e-cigarette market so as to ensure its decisions are fair and transparent.