By Timothy S. Donahue

Top Takeaways:

• First comprehensive disclosure: China has published its first comprehensive public report on e-cigarette regulation and enforcement.
• Enforcement scale: Nearly 20,000 administrative and over 5,500 criminal cases were handled nationwide.
• Clear signal: The report reinforces sustained tightening of oversight, capacity controls, and export compliance measures.

China’s top tobacco regulator has published its first comprehensive public report detailing the country’s e-cigarette/vaping product regulatory framework, enforcement outcomes, and international cooperation. The report underscores a continued tightening of oversight in the world’s largest e-cigarette and vaping product manufacturing market.

On Dec. 26, 2025, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) released the E-Cigarette Supervision and Management Status Report on its official website and in local media. The report, compiled by the STMA’s E-Cigarette Supervision and Management Department, provides a systematic review of China’s regulatory trajectory since 2018, when national authorities began strengthening oversight of the sector.

The report marks the first time China’s tobacco regulator has publicly issued a consolidated, “white-paper-style” account of the legal, institutional, technical, and enforcement systems governing e-cigarettes. It covers legislation, licensing, national standards, market access, enforcement actions, youth-protection measures, and cross-border regulatory coordination.

According to the report, China’s regulatory shift began in 2018 as e-cigarette use expanded rapidly and market disorder emerged, including quality risks, youth targeting, and trademark and patent violations. That year, the State Council directed the STMA to accelerate regulatory development, and joint notices in 2018 and 2019 prohibited sales to minors. In 2020, revisions to the Law on the Protection of Minors formally classified e-cigarettes as tobacco for youth-protection purposes.

A decisive institutional change occurred in 2021, when the State Council amended the regulations implementing China’s Tobacco Monopoly Law, bringing e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products under the tobacco monopoly system. This laid the legal foundation for subsequent measures, including the E-Cigarette Management Measures issued in March 2022 and the mandatory national standard E-Cigarettes, released in April 2022, which set unified technical, safety, labeling, and testing requirements.

The report notes that regulators have since established a multi-layered oversight framework covering production, sales, import and export, logistics, transaction platforms, quality supervision, and enforcement. Domestically, sales of flavored e-cigarettes, refillable products, and nicotine-free e-cigarettes are prohibited, and all transactions must be conducted through a centralized national trading platform.

Authorities report that enforcement actions have intensified. Since e-cigarettes were brought under formal regulation, officials nationwide have handled 19,896 administrative and 5,539 criminal cases, seized more than 63 million illegal e-cigarette products, and pursued criminal liability for 3,834 individuals, with total case values exceeding 15 billion yuan ($2.1 billion).

The report also highlights structural changes in the industry. Leading firms now account for more than 80% of domestic sales and nearly 60% of exports. Capacity utilization across nicotine, e-liquid, and finished products has increased as non-compliant operators have exited the market.

Internationally, the STMA disclosed expanded cooperation with regulators in the European Union, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand, focusing on combating illicit trade, improving export compliance, and protecting minors. China is also participating in international technical rule-making through ISO working groups on e-cigarettes and vaping products.

The publication follows a series of regulatory signals in December. Earlier this month, Premier Li Qiang called for a full-chain crackdown on tobacco-related illegal activity. This was followed by a State Council opinion that strengthens enforcement and a separate STMA policy that tightens controls on e-cigarette production capacity and investment. The report consolidates these actions into a single reference outlining China’s regulatory direction.