"Smoking cessation protective cover", "electronic cigarette charger", "electronic atomization"... The repeated prohibition of online trading of e-cigarettes is infringing on the health of minors.
A few days ago, the surging news reporter investigated and found that there are merchants selling e-cigarettes on major e-commerce and social product platforms, and the way is hidden, using various edge ball words or video pictures to evade censorship.
On October 30, 2019, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Notice on Further Protecting Minors from E-cigarettes, which clearly stated that e-cigarettes must not be sold to minors, to prevent minors from purchasing and smoking e-cigarettes through the Internet, and e-cigarette stores and sales websites should be closed in a timely manner.
The "Administrative Measures for Electronic Cigarettes (Draft for Comments)" released in December 2021 also clarifies that general primary and secondary schools, special education schools, secondary vocational schools, specialized schools, and kindergartens must not set up e-cigarette product sales outlets. The sale of e-cigarette products to minors is prohibited.
From e-commerce to WeChat transactions, the "age threshold" has become a decoration
"Is it the buyer?" Add your WeChat, specific WeChat said. ”
In a store in Pinduoduo, the surging news reporter opened a product marked "electronic cigarette magazine box" and asked the customer service whether there was an electronic cigarette for sale, and the customer service said that the specific information was inconvenient to disclose, and it was necessary to place an order first and then explain it in detail.
After the reporter placed the order, he immediately received a call, and after confirming the identity of the reporter, the other party asked not to talk in the chat window of the e-commerce platform, but to add WeChat communication.
Open the owner's circle of friends, are the sales information of various varieties of electronic cigarettes. Immediately, he sent a series of videos and pictures of e-cigarettes to reporters, saying: "Screenshot inquiry." ”
Customer service said "plus WeChat communication", the circle of friends are e-cigarette sales information
The surging news reporter found that searching for "e-cigarettes" on the e-commerce platform will pop up the "Green Network Plan" prompt, showing that the law stipulates that tobacco monopoly products cannot be sold through information networks. But similar keywords will not be regulated, search for "Yueke 5 generations", "smoking cessation sets", "dzy", "electronic atomization", etc., there will be a large number of stores selling electronic cigarettes pop up.
Compared with e-commerce, some social platform transactions are more daring. Taking Soul as an example, the reporter searched for "e-cigarette" in the chat box and found that a large number of users with "e-cigarette" as the ID openly sold e-cigarettes on their personal homepages. According to the search records, the reporter also joined 5-6 group chats named after e-cigarettes, and the group mainly exchanged specific information on e-cigarette online transactions.
E-cigarette trading group on Soul
At the same time, the reporter found relevant information about e-cigarette sales on many social platforms such as Tantan, Hupu, Douban, etc., and clearly implied that there was e-cigarette sales on the personal homepage.
E-cigarette sellers on Douban have Micro ID/QR codes attached to the homepage
E-cigarette sellers on Tiger Punch
Probe on e-cigarette sellers
Whether it is e-commerce or social platforms, a common feature is that the platforms are drainage parties, and the final transaction method is still carried out through "plus WeChat". An e-cigarette seller on Soul told reporters that this is because many platforms have supervision over the collection code and can only be paid through WeChat transfers.
It is worth noting that the original intention of the "online ban order" for e-cigarettes was mainly to protect the rights and interests of minors, but when the reporter pretended to be a buyer for consultation, the "age threshold" was useless. There is no seller to consult the age of the reporter, and even when the reporter directly said to multiple sellers that he was under the age of 18, the other party did not refuse to sell, but laughed: "Pretend not to see." “
The reporter said he was under 18 years old, and the seller said "I didn't see it"
Some sellers even suggested that reporters can take advantage of their age to sell e-cigarettes to classmates through online purchases during school reading: "Very good to sell." ”
Online e-cigarette transactions are "gang-oriented", with a membership fee of 200 yuan
It is worth noting that today's online e-cigarette transactions, compared with scattered individual sellers, show the characteristics of teamwork and scale.
In the e-cigarette exchange group, the reporter said: "I also want to do this business, is anyone willing to take me?" A number of sellers sent private messages to reporters, all of whom expressed their willingness to absorb "joining the union", but the premise is to pay a membership fee of 200 yuan.
"The dues are not given to me, but to the people above." Seller "Xiao Hu" (pseudonym) said. After paying the membership fee, the reporter can buy goods from the small beard, and as for how much money he can earn, "it all depends on his own ability."
E-cigarette online trading has formed a team
Xiao Hu "pointed out" that in addition to offline sales to acquaintances, online sales are also important channels, such as Douyin, Kuaishou and other platforms can quietly sell e-cigarettes. "Vibrato is tightly grasped, I have just been banned recently, I recommend using Kuaishou."
The way to escape censorship is not to mention the "e-cigarette" related words in the copywriting and personal introduction, but to express it in the form of videos, pictures, etc., and then he sent a large number of e-cigarette videos to reporters for reference. "These are all lessons from multiple trials on the team."
Sellers say there are "tricks" for selling online
Surging news reporter query vibrato, fast hand display, through keyword search, it is indeed difficult to find the traces of e-cigarette sales, but in the comment area of some e-cigarette-related videos, there are a large number of open online transactions, many sellers will ask "to buy" "I have goods here" "fidelity", and click on the seller's homepage, often no text introduction, only a Micro SIGNAL, or only video.
E-cigarette trading in the comment area of the short video platform
Xiao Hu said that e-cigarette sales have a clear underground network, through the president, and then to the lower level, layer by layer, each layer will earn the difference in price, and finally to the consumer. However, there is no contact between the teams, only the incoming and outgoing parties have contact, and he does not know who the president is, but some public information will be circulated among the members.
He showed the reporter the quotation for the purchase of e-cigarettes: taking the YOOZ Zero second-generation series as an example, the single-shot purchase price is 130 yuan, and the official price is 248 yuan-278 yuan; the yue carved five-generation series, the purchase price is 150 yuan per pole, and the official price is 268 yuan. The specific shipment price can be determined by yourself, but it generally exceeds 200 yuan.
The "purchase price" of the e-cigarette presented by the seller
The implementation of the "ban on the sale" of e-cigarettes is difficult: digital or tobacco products, there is no clear definition
At the regulatory level, the state has been strictly controlling and strictly grasping the illegal trade in e-cigarettes. Since 2018, the state has introduced a series of regulatory measures for the e-cigarette industry, including banning the sale of e-cigarettes online, etc., and e-cigarettes have suffered "whole network removal" in 2019.
On December 2 last year, according to the information on the website of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, in accordance with the newly revised "Regulations on the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China", the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration studied and drafted the "Administrative Measures for Electronic Cigarettes (Draft for Comment)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Management Measures") and solicited opinions from the public.
Among them, Article 6 of the Administrative Measures makes it clear that a registration system is implemented for e-cigarette products. Before e-cigarette products are listed for sale in China, they shall be registered by the competent administrative department for tobacco monopoly. In addition, the "Administrative Measures" also mentioned that it is proposed to establish a unified national e-cigarette trading management platform.
Despite the regulatory "heavy blow", why is the online sales of e-cigarettes still repeatedly prohibited? Ji Ligang, a professor at Fudan University Law School and a lawyer at Shanghai Siwei Lema Law Firm, told the surging news reporter that the reasons for the difficulty of enforcing the e-cigarette online ban order are diverse. First of all, the understanding of the relevant bans is different, resulting in a misreading of market players. This requires the relevant departments to further clarify what is "e-cigarette" and the specific operational requirements for removing "e-cigarette" products from the shelves.
There is no clear definition of whether the attributes of e-cigarettes are digital products or tobacco products. Some merchants claim to be selling digital products. E-cigarette products are composed of "smoking utensils" and "smoke bombs", as long as they do not sell cigarette bombs, it seems to be divorced from e-cigarettes. At present, the national industry standard on how to define what is an e-cigarette has not yet been introduced, and the relevant departments are still actively carrying out relevant research and demonstration to promote the introduction of management measures and methods to guide the orderly development of the e-cigarette industry. However, it must be made clear that the state has not yet introduced e-cigarette standards and norms, and it cannot become an opportunity for merchants to wipe the edge.
Second, the society has insufficient awareness of the harm of e-cigarette products. The Notice on Further Protecting Minors from Electronic Cigarettes pointed out that electronic cigarettes, as a supplement to traditional tobacco products such as cigarettes, have their own greater safety and health risks, and are more arbitrary in the selection of raw materials, additive use, process design, quality control, etc., and some products have quality and safety hazards such as smoke oil leakage, inferior batteries, and unsafe ingredient additions.
E-cigarettes are regarded as a substitute for cigarettes, and many regions have introduced tobacco control regulations, but e-cigarette products are not among them. In October last year, Shenzhen for the first time included e-cigarettes in the scope of tobacco control regulations, e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes are treated the same, and there are new practices in the regulation and supervision of e-cigarettes.
Third, the legal liability provisions for banning the sale of e-cigarettes are not clear, and the notice does not clearly stipulate the responsibility of the platform, which is still a soft constraint in essence.
Lawyer: Platforms that do not remove e-cigarettes are liable
Platforms such as Taobao, WeChat, Douyin, and Kuaishou need to bear for illegal sales of e-cigarettes? The surging news reporter interviewed a number of lawyers, all of whom said that the sales platform that failed to monitor, dissuade and stop minors from purchasing e-cigarettes should bear corresponding legal responsibilities. Xia Hailong, a lawyer at Shenlun Law Firm, believes that the platform has the obligation to review the various business qualifications of the merchants, and the goods that do not meet the scope of business cannot be put on the shelves, or if it is found that the merchants are operating illegally, they should take disposal measures such as removing the shelves in a timely manner.
"The behavior of hidden sales can generally avoid the review of the platform, but the platform should also take the initiative to clean up illegal content through inspection and other means, or provide a convenient complaint channel, and deal with it in a timely manner after receiving complaints."
He mentioned that how to assume responsibility should be decided according to different platform entities: taking e-commerce as an example, if the e-commerce platform does not perform the qualification verification obligation of the merchant or fails to deal with the illegal business behavior in a timely manner, the relevant competent department will order it to make corrections within a time limit; if it is not corrected within the time limit, it will be fined between 20,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, it will be ordered to stop business for rectification and be fined between 100,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan.
For content suspected of illegal business published by some users on short video platforms, the "Provisions on the Governance of the Ecology of Online Information Content" and other relevant laws and regulations may be applied to supervise, and if the platform does not perform its obligations, it may be interviewed and warned by the Internet information department, and ordered to make corrections within a time limit.
It is worth noting that for WeChat trading e-cigarettes, or selling e-cigarettes in the circle of friends, there is currently no unified determination in law. "The circle of friends is more special, compared to the short video platform, the circle of friends is relatively private space, not a platform, so WeChat can not directly interfere with the content of the circle of friends." Xia Hailong said that if users publish sales information in the circle of friends for a long time and in large quantities, in the event of disputes, it is very likely to be considered to belong to the operator, but it should be determined according to the specific circumstances.
In November 2021, in order to strengthen the supervision of new tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes, the Regulations on the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China were revised and an article was added as Article 65: "New tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes shall be implemented with reference to the relevant provisions of cigarettes in these Regulations." "But as of now, the regulatory rules for e-cigarettes have not yet been introduced."
Ji Ligang suggested that in the future, the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China" should be properly linked with industry standards and industry rules, a reasonable industry access mechanism should be established, a sound product quality system and a mechanism for the protection of minors should be built, and the standardized development of the e-cigarette industry should be promoted.