China Mulls a Ban on Flavored Vape Juice With New Draft Bill

If you're one of many Beijingers who lives life in a cloud of vape juice, then you may have heard tell of shifting tides in the electronic cigarette industry. Some of you may have even been urged by your suppliers to stock up on your favorite flavor – but are these nicotine mongers just trying to make an extra buck in commission, or do they know something we don’t?

In fact, there is good reason to believe that flavored vapes may soon be banned. Earlier this month, the government released a draft bill to the public for comment that, in its current form, would “forbid the selling of flavored e-cigarettes such as marijuana flavor and other flavors that can easily induce minors.” The flavors that would be banned are by no means set in stone, but the draft does propose a list of 122 flavors that regulators should consider prohibiting, including numerous fruit and alcohol flavors.

But if canceling your favorite flavor doesn’t get you to quit, maybe higher prices will. Regulators also say that they are considering levying new taxes on e-cigarette sales, according to Xinhua reporting.

Meanwhile, official media outlets have been stepping up campaigns against vaping this month, for example, with videos suggesting that second-hand e-cig vapor is as harmful as second-hand smoke.

Another cause for concern among vape vendors is that the nation’s Tobacco Monopoly Law has been amended to include a clause that mandates e-cigarettes to be subject to the same regulations at real cigarettes. It’s unclear to what extent this in itself will affect consumers directly, but it does mean you won’t see any new brands popping up, because regulators say that no more e-cigarette licenses will be issued.

Of course, tobacco sales continue to outpace vape sales by leaps and bounds in China, and experts have recently suggested hiking up the prices of cigarettes as well in order to discourage smoking. Earlier this year, a small price hike was implemented, but experts say that much more is needed in order to be effective – as high as RMB 59 if the country is to reach its smoking reduction goals.

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Image: UNSPLASH, Daily Shabah