China's State Council Releases Guidelines to Tackle Tobacco Smuggling and Counterfeiting

The State Council of China has issued guidelines to combat tobacco-related illegal activities. The guidelines emphasize a comprehensive crackdown, including targeting the supply chain of counterfeit tobacco materials and machinery, preventing the spread of tobacco counterfeiting, and strictly investigating illegal storage, transportation, and delivery of tobacco products. The guidelines also focus on regulating the sale of tobacco by licensed retailers, prohibiting the sale of illegal tobacco products, and cleaning up online sales of such items. Additionally, the guidelines call for stricter regulation of e-cigarettes, including the prohibition of unauthorized production, wholesale, and export re-importation. It also bans the unlicensed production and sale of products containing tobacco or nicotine and cracks down on the illegal manufacture and sale of products that resemble tobacco.

The State Council issued guidelines to combat tobacco-related illegal activities. The guidelines focus on striking down overseas counterfeit production and smuggling into China, enhancing international law enforcement cooperation to tackle foreign counterfeiting of Chinese tobacco brands, and intensifying efforts to intercept and stop illegal tobacco from entering or transiting through China. The guidelines also call for coordinating maritime and land-based enforcement to target tobacco smuggling, strengthening the management of special areas to prevent intellectual property infringement and tobacco smuggling via transit, re-export, and transshipment, and increasing scrutiny of tobacco smuggling through cross-border transportation, e-commerce logistics, and international mail.