China Drafts Cross-Agency Notice Banning Illegal E-Cigarettes and Nicotine-Free Variants
China's national tobacco monopoly and market-regulation and drug-supervision agencies have released a draft notice banning the manufacture and sale of illegal e-cigarettes, publicly opened for comment on 9 October, in a move that would treat nicotine-free vaping devices as counterfeit products.
The three agencies — the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Medical Products Administration — compiled the notice under the State Council's December 2025 directive on striking illegal tobacco activity across the entire supply chain (document No. 44). The draft was opened for public comment through 29 October, with submissions due to the tobacco agency's email inbox under a subject line matching the draft's title.
The notice defines an e-cigarette as any electronic delivery system that produces an inhalable aerosol, including the device, cartridges and combined products, and requires that the liquid contain nicotine. On that basis it states that a nicotine-free e-cigarette does not meet the national standard and is classified as an inferior, that is counterfeit, product. The provision closes a grey market in which operators have sold nicotine-free pods under other labels.
It also tightens the doors through which such products enter the market. Holders of medical-device registration or filing may not alter the structure or scope of their products to turn them into e-cigarettes, and holders of food-production licences may not exceed their permitted scope to produce or trade e-cigarettes. Drug and market-regulation agencies are directed not to issue the relevant medical-device registrations, filings or production permits for e-cigarettes at the entry point.
On the sales side, the draft bans e-cigarette advertising and online sales, and tasks internet platforms with removing e-cigarette content that is disguised as medical or food items, with platforms barred from placing such advertising directly or by other means and required to report their handling to the regulators.
The closing provision puts the three agencies on joint enforcement. Tobacco monopoly, market-regulation and drug agencies work together to investigate illegal manufacture and sales, and cases that amount to crimes are referred to the judicial authorities for criminal prosecution.
For the Chinese vaping market, which operates under strict licensing and a national standard, the draft narrows two of the most common workarounds: selling nicotine-free cartridges as a regulated product, and laundering them through medical or food names. The outcome of the 29 October comment period will determine how the rule is worded, but the structure of a three-agency crackdown is now set.