Recently, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) has issued the revised Rules for the Electronic Cigarette Trading Management (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft"), the Rules for the Electronic Cigarette Logistics Management (Draft for Comment) and the Rules for the Management of Investment in Electronic Cigarette Fixed Assets (Draft for Comment). These drafts are currently open for public comments until May 8, 2024.
Revisions in the Draft include: (1) clarifying the entities involved in the trading of various types of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), such as defining the e-cigarette importers and clarifying the scope of their licenses in a new Article 28; (2) improving the specifics of the total quantity management, such as enriching and improving the content related to quantity management in Article 18, and streamlining the description of quantity management requirements for different types of products; (3) standardizing the use of terminology and standardized language; (4) introducing new management requirements, such as adding requirements related to record-filing for marketing activities of production companies in a new Article 19; and (5) removing technical processing content unrelated to trading management.