Do Chinese People Use Vaping Themselves? Does Vape Legal in China

Are you curious about something. China produces so many vapes every year. Do Chinese people smoke vapes themselves?

We are a professional vape factory that produces vapes. I will provide a comprehensive answer to your question and also welcome more professional professionals in the industry to supplement.
In China, the production of vape requires a license from the National Tobacco Administration. This means that only licensed factories can produce vapes.
However, vapes are subdivided into different fields. We all know that a complete vape requires e-liquid inside.
Firstly, for the cannabis industry, China does not have this type of oil. So, many CBD vape factories that produce empty device do not require a license. Strictly speaking, they produce semi-finished products and accessories. Not a true vape. The government has not implemented very strict regulations to require CBD vape factory that produce semi-finished products and accessories to obtain production licenses from the National Tobacco Administration.
Secondly, the same applies to the heated not burnt series e-cigarette. This type of product does not strictly comply with regulations.
Finally, for nicotine vapes, as they contain e-liquid inside the device, they are considered a complete vape product. So factories with production licenses are allowed to produce. And all models, styles need to be registered and filed with the National Tobacco Administration. Otherwise, mass production and export are not allowed.
So nicotine vapes are further divided into fruit flavors and tobacco flavors. Chinese law prohibits the sale of fruit flavored vape in China. Vape with tobacco flavors are legal and allowed for sale after approval.

Selling fruit flavored vape in China is illegal.

Let’s introduce specifically what crimes can be committed when selling fruit flavored vape?

Unlicensed Sales: The “Dual track System of Amount” for Illegal Business Crimes

After the implementation of the “Electronic Cigarette Management Measures” in May 2022, vapes will be included in the tobacco monopoly system. Selling fruit flavored vapes without a license directly violates Article 225 of the Criminal Law for illegal business operations. The filing criteria are determined based on a dual track approach of “sales revenue+profit”:
1. Basic punishment (less than 5 years): Sales revenue ≥ 50000 yuan, or illegal gains ≥ 20000 yuan
2. Heavy punishment (5 years or more): Sales revenue ≥ 250000 yuan, or illegal gains ≥ 100000 yuan

Key details:
1. Inventory included in value: Unsold fruit flavored electronic cigarettes are calculated at market price
2. Online sales are being heavily criticized: transactions on WeChat and Moments are seen as “evading regulation”,
3. License expiration is equivalent to no license

With license: the ‘national standard red line’ of the crime of selling counterfeit and inferior products

Even if holding a Tobacco Monopoly Retail License, selling fruit flavored vapes after October 1, 2022 is still illegal. According to the national standard GB41700-2022, fruit flavored vapes are classified as counterfeit products due to violations of additives, lack of child lock function, and excessive nicotine, triggering Article 140 of the Criminal Law:
1. Registration criteria: Sales revenue ≥ 50000 yuan, or unsold goods value ≥ 150000 yuan
2. Special recognition: Even if the product does not directly harm health, as long as it violates the mandatory standard of “only allowing tobacco flavors”, it constitutes a counterfeit product

Practical traps:
1. Cross selling is considered as counterfeit: Fruit flavored vapes purchased from unauthorized platforms, even if the supplier has a certificate, are still judged as counterfeit due to being “out of the regulatory chain”
2. Accumulated calculation of expired products: In the case, more than 4000 boxes of expired fruit flavored vapes were included in the total value of the goods according to the formula “value of goods=price x quantity”.

Aggravated circumstances:

1. Sales guided by minors
2. Drug related “high vape”
3. Concealed online sales, using “secret code transactions”

The above is the actual situation of vapes in China. Relatively speaking, although China is a major producer of vapes. But the regulation of vape is very strict in China. Since the new regulations were introduced, few consumers have purchased vape products. To be honest, tobacco flavored vapes have a bad taste and do not meet consumers’ preferences.
We rarely see vape consumers in our daily lives, and as a practitioner myself. I use fruit flavored vape without considering tobacco flavor.