China
China: Beijing residents are outing smokers online
http://ash.org.uk/emailmarketer/link.php?M=5482&N=1398&L=11890&F=H
From 1 June, a ban on smoking has been in effect in the Chinese capital’s indoor public spaces.
Beijing city authorities have sought to involve the public in their efforts to enforce the ban – a hotline has been set up to report those flouting the rules and the government has even suggested hand gestures that others should use to signal people to stop smoking. The campaign has also been taken online by the Beijing municipal government with accounts called “Smoke-free Beijing” on the Twitter-like Weibo network and messaging app WeChat.
But hundreds of residents are using its message board – “Exposure Table” – to post pictures of smokers allegedly violating the ban. The photographs posted on the board show people smoking on stairwells and in shopping malls – some even show policemen appearing to break the law.
It is not entirely clear what, if anything, has happened to the individuals visibly seen smoking in prohibited areas in the photos, but a report on Chinese national radio said that action will be taken against establishments which are the subject of multiple complaints on WeChat.
Other cities must follow Beijing’s example on smoking bans
http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1818247/other-cities-must-follow-beijings-example-smoking-bans
The smoking ban introduced in Beijing last Monday was never going to be an instant success. Far too many of the capital’s people smoke and too many businesses rely on their patronage. Two previous such measures made little headway, so expectations, even among municipal officials, was low. Yet no matter how limited the inspections or the number of fines handed out, the increased awareness of the dangers posed will advance efforts to force smokers to stub out the habit.
One in five of Beijing’s 20 million people smoke. Restaurants, bars and nightclubs have made them welcome with ashtrays and owners were unenthusiastic about the new rules. But although there has so far been little noticeable change in the amount of smoking on the city’s streets, the message is slowly sinking in through fines and calls to a special hotline, 12320. Success will be measured less by how many offenders are penalised than the number convinced to quit.
This is, after all, the toughest ban yet imposed. It extends from government offices to hotels, restaurants, recreational centres and public transport. Outdoor places near hospitals, schools and some tourist sites have also been designated smoke-free. Shops within 100 metres of kindergartens and primary schools will no longer be able to sell cigarettes.
The World Health Organisation estimates one million of China’s 300 million smokers die each year of ailments including cancer and heart disease, while second-hand smoke claims a further 100,000. A recent study by the Beijing Patriotic Health Campaign Committee found 90 per cent of patrons of bars and clubs and 65 per cent of diners were probably exposed to tobacco fumes. Any effort to limit the effects is welcome.
Advertising was last month banned in the mass media, on public transport and in outdoor public places and national taxes on cigarettes doubled. Gradually, an environment is being created that frowns upon smoking. Beijing’s ban has to be properly enforced and extended to other cities.
All eyes on Beijing as China, world’s largest tobacco consumer, bans public smoking
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1813367/all-eyes-beijing-china-worlds-largest-tobacco-consumer-bans
Anyone caught violating the ban must pay 200 yuan (US$32.25)
Beijing has banned smoking in restaurants, offices and on public transport from Monday, part of unprecedented new curbs welcomed by anti-tobacco advocates, though how they will be enforced remains to be seen.
Health activists have pushed for years for stronger restrictions on smoking on the mainland, the world’s largest tobacco consumer, which is considering further anti-smoking curbs nationwide.
Under the rules, anyone in the capital who violates the ban, which includes smoking near schools and hospitals, must pay a 200 yuan (HK$250) fine. The present fine, which is seldom enforced, is just 10 yuan.
Anyone who breaks the law three times will be named and shamed on a government website. Businesses, meanwhile, can be fined up to 10,000 yuan for failing to stamp out smoking on their premises.
“Restaurant staff have a duty to try to dissuade people from smoking,” said Mao Qunan, of the National Health and Family Planning Commission. “If they don’t listen to persuasion, then law enforcement authorities will file a case against them.”
The government would also no longer allow cigarettes to be sold in shops within 100 metres of primary schools and kindergartens, according to state media.
Smoking is a major health crisis on the mainland, where more than 300 million smokers have made cigarettes part of the social fabric, and millions more are exposed to secondhand smoke. More than half of mainland smokers buy cigarettes at less than five yuan a pack.
The legislature passed a law last month banning tobacco advertisements in mass media, on public transport and in outdoor public spaces. Many mainland cities have banned smoking in outdoor public places, but enforcement has been lax.
Bright red banners, typically used to display government slogans, have been posted around Beijing with anti-smoking messages. The city has also set up a hotline on which violators can be reported.
The names of people and companies who violate the rules more than three times would be posted on a government website for a month, state radio said.
Anti-tobacco advocates said they were more confident in the government’s will to enforce the bans after a series of tougher measures in recent months, including a higher tobacco tax.
“We couldn’t say this is the strongest law in the world,” said Angela Pratt, of the World Health Organisation’s Tobacco Free Initiative.
“But it’s certainly up there with the strongest, in that there are no exemptions, no exceptions and no loopholes on the indoor smoking ban requirement.”
Beijing vows to launch toughest-ever crackdown on smoking in June
http://www.scmp.com/print/news/china/society/article/1808972/beijing-vows-launch-toughest-ever-crackdown-smoking-june
Beijing will dispatch tobacco inspectors across the city next month in what is local media say is the capital’s toughest-ever anti-smoking campaign.
The inspectors will target illegal smoking at hotels and tourist attractions, The Beijing News reported, citing unnamed officials at the Beijing Municipal Tourism Commission.
Smoking will be not allowed at all key cultural sites in the capital and designated outside smoking areas will be set up in other tourist sites where outdoor smoking is permitted.
Tour guides will also be trained to help enforce the anti-smoking bans.
But from June 1, smoking will be banned at indoor places, workplaces and on public transport. Businesses that flout the law will face fines of up to 10,000 yuan (HK$12,600) and repeat offenders could have their business licences revoked.
Tobacco companies will also be banned from sponsoring public events, and tobacco advertising be removed from television, radio and the internet.
China is home to 300 million smokers, while 740 million more are exposed to second-hand smoke, state media has reported.
Beijing to introduce tough anti-smoking laws amid scepticism over enforcement, conflict of interest
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2015-05-19/beijing-to-introduce-tough-antismoking-laws-amid-scepticism-over-enforcement-conflict-of-interest/1448864
China’s capital prepares to introduce what has been promoted as its toughest smoke-free law, amidst considerable scepticism over enforcement issues and an unresolved conflict of interest.
The WHO says inhaling second-hand smoke is even worse than breathing the air in Beijing on a very polluted day. (Credit: ABC licensed)
China’s capital is preparing to introduce what is being promoted as its toughest smoke-free law, amid considerable scepticism over enforcement issues and an unresolved conflict of interest.
Smoking in all indoor places, work places and public transport will be banned in the city from June 1.
Advertisements will not be allowed in mass media, public spaces, billboards and outdoor areas. All forms of tobacco promotion and title sponsorship will also not be permitted.
Businesses that flout the law will be fined up to 10,000 renminbi (RMB) or around $2,000 and repeat offenders could potentially have their licenses revoked.
“If we can show a very good law can be implemented in Beijing, we believe it will have an impact on how the national law will be formulated because then there will be no reason why we can’t do it in other places,” said the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) China representative Dr Bernhard Schwartlander.
Thousands of health inspectors are being trained to make sure people butt out when they are supposed to.
In a separate move, China’s ministry of finance recently announced a tax increase on the wholesale price of tobacco.
The move will affect the retail price for the first time.
However, the Beijing government faces considerable scepticism over the enforcement of the new law because previous efforts have been widely ignored.
The new price of a pack of cigarettes is unlikely to be a deterrent, as prices for one of the cheapest brands will rise by only 50 cents to 5.50 RMB or around $1.10.
China yet to address crucial conflict of interest
China also has not addressed a crucial conflict of interest, as the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration runs and regulates the country’s cigarette maker China National Tobacco Corporation.
“It’s like the health minister showing up at a cabinet meeting about tobacco control law and the meeting is chaired by Philip Morris,” said Dr Angela Pratt, who heads the WHO’s tobacco-free initiative.
Dr Pratt was once chief of staff to Australia’s former health minister Nicola Roxon.
Most of China’s 300 million smokers — the world’s largest population of smokers — are men but the number of young female smokers is beginning to rise.
An estimated one million people die from tobacco-related diseases a year on the mainland, with lung cancer the number one cause of death among Chinese men.
Tax increase goes up in smoke
http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1801861/tax-increase-goes-smoke
The case for the mainland to do something about its smoking habit hardly needs restating. But we are prompted to do so by Beijing’s announcement of a derisory increase in the consumption tax on cigarettes which is highly likely to fail one of its justifications – to discourage smoking. The government has raised the wholesale tax on cigarettes from 5 per cent to 11 per cent. This may sound a lot, but it has had a featherweight impact on over-the-counter cigarette prices and sales, according to retailers in the capital. For example, a popular brand that used to cost 25 yuan (HK$32) a pack now costs 27 yuan. One retailer said his business had not suffered at all from the rise, indicating a zero deterrent effect.
The increase in the wholesale price is estimated to bring in an extra 20-billion-plus yuan in tax revenue this year compared with 2014, according to an informed source, although other experts put the figure much higher. In the absence of any significant deterrent effect on a dangerous habit that inflates national health-care costs, this is a socially questionable windfall for the state. There is an argument for socially “laundering” it by direct transfer to the national health budget. It would make even more sense, however, if the tax increase were also considerably larger. Since 2000, price inflation for cigarettes in the mainland has lagged rising incomes, and taxes account only for about 50 per cent of the retail price, compared with about 70 per cent in Hong Kong, up to 80 per cent in Europe and the World Health Organisation recommendation for China of at least 70 per cent.
The mainland has more than 300 million smokers. According to the WHO, about one million deaths a year can be attributed to tobacco use. In Hong Kong, a decade of regular tobacco-tax increases is credited with cutting the incidence of lung cancer after allowing for an ageing population.
That said, Beijing is to be commended for introducing, from next month, the nation’s toughest smoking bans yet since the first curbs on smoking in indoor venues in 2010. Weak enforcement has fostered defiance in eating places. Fines will now be 20 times higher at 200 yuan and the ban is being extended to schools, hospitals, and museums among other public places. A two-pronged approach of relentless enforcement of tougher penalties and higher tobacco taxes levied as contributions towards the future health-care costs would greatly enhance the deterrent effect.
WHO releases preliminary assessment of China’s tobacco tax increase
BEIJING, 15 May 2015 – The World Health Organization (WHO) today released its preliminary assessment of the impact of the increase to tobacco taxation announced by China’s Ministry of Finance on 8 May.
“Increasing tobacco taxes and prices is the single most effective way of reducing tobacco consumption in the short term. The WHO therefore welcomes the announcement by the Ministry of Finance of a tobacco tax increase in China,” said Dr Bernhard Schwartländer, WHO Representative in China.
“We are especially pleased to see that the new tax policy establishes the important precedent that tobacco tax increases should be passed on to the retail price of cigarettes, in order to reduce tobacco consumption for public health purposes,” Dr Schwartländer said.
Summary of changes
The tax increase announced by the Ministry of Finance last week and which came into effect on May 10 includes two components:
· an increase in the excise tax applied at the wholesale level, from 5% to 11%;
· a new, specific excise tax of 0.005RMB per stick, or 0.1RMB per pack of 20 cigarettes.
WHO’s preliminary assessment of the new policy
WHO has conducted preliminary modelling on the tax increase in conjunction with Professor Rose Zheng, at the WHO Collaborating Centre on Tobacco Control and Economics at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
According to our preliminary analysis, the tax increase will lead cigarette retail prices to increase on average by between 7-10%, with the cheapest brands likely to increase the most.
For instance, the price of a pack of cigarettes which currently retails for 5 RMB could increase to around 5.5 RMB.
As a result of the changes, the share of excise tax as a proportion of the market average retail price of tobacco products is expected to increase from 30% to 34%.
The overall share of tax as a proportion of the market retail price of tobacco – including excise, Value-Added Tax (VAT) and other taxes – is likely to increase from 50% to approximately 54%.
WHO expects that increases in the retail price of 7-10% will have a modest but measurable impact on reducing total cigarette consumption, most notably with respect to the cheapest brands in the market which encourage use and uptake by vulnerable populations – such as young people and people on very low incomes.
However, it will be some time before the real impact of the tax increase can be determined – in particular, the impact on consumption. There are a range of variables which may affect this, for instance – the wide variation in cigarette prices in China.
Cigarette prices are still low by international standards and household incomes in China are growing strongly. This means that cigarettes will become more affordable over time unless regular tax increases are introduced by the Government.
WHO will continue to monitor the impact of the tax changes, in particular on retail prices.
“Right now, around 12% of all adult deaths in China are caused by smoking. This takes a heavy toll on China’s health system, and on the broader society and economy. High health costs fall most heavily on the poor, who can least afford to pay. This can lead to a vicious cycle of impoverishment,” Dr Schwartländer said.
“By raising tobacco taxes, the Chinese Government can reduce these costs, raise additional reveue, and improve public health – particularly amongst the poor: a classic ‘win-win’ policy,” Dr Schwartländer said.
“Even a marginal decrease in the smoking rate in China would mean millions fewer smokers, who will avoid the diseases and early death that comes with smoking. There is a direct link between the price of tobacco products and the level of consumption: in other words, the higher the price, the more lives that will be saved,” Dr Schwartländer concluded.
For more information, please go to the WHO China website: http://www.wpro.who.int/china/en/ or follow WHO on Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/whoinchina .
About the World Health Organization
WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.
For more information please contact
Ms WU Linlin
WHO China Office
E-mail: wul@who.int
Office Tel: +86 10 6532 7191
世卫组织新闻通稿
世界卫生组织发布对中国提高烟草税政策的初步评估
北京，2015年5月15日——世界卫生组织（世卫组织）今天发布了对中国财政部5月8日宣布的提税政策相关影响的初步评估结果。
“提高烟草税和价格是短期内降低烟草消费的最有效办法。因此，世界卫生组织非常欢迎财政部提高中国烟草税的决定，”世界卫生组织驻华代表施贺德博士表示。
“我们非常乐意看到新的税收政策开创了一个重要先河，即，提高的税率应该体现在卷烟零售价中。惟有这样才能降低烟草消费，促进公共卫生目标的实现。”
政策调整简介
上周财政部宣布提高烟草税并从5月10日开始执行。提税主要包括两项内容：
· 将卷烟批发环节从价税税率由5%提高至11%；
· 按0.005元/支加征从量税，相当于1包20支的卷烟加征0.1元从量税。
世卫组织对新政策的初步评估
世卫组织与对外经济贸易大学世界卫生组织烟草控制经济学合作中心的郑榕教授合作，对提税政策进行了初步模型分析。
初步分析显示，提税将使卷烟零售价平均上涨7-10%之间，低端品牌涨幅有可能最大。
举例说明：目前零售价为5元一包的卷烟，提税后将涨价到5.5元一包。
受其影响，消费税在烟草平均零售价中的占比将从30%上涨至34%。
各种税收（包括消费税、从价税和其他税）之和在烟草零售价中的占比有可能从50%上涨到54%左右。
世卫组织认为，卷烟零售价上涨7-10%对于降低总体卷烟消费将会产生适度但仍可测量到的影响，其中，以对吸引年轻人或低收入者等薄弱人群吸烟的低价品牌的影响较为明显。
然而，须假以时日，提税的实际效果（尤其是对烟草消费的影响）才能显示出来。此外，还有其他一些影响因素，例如，中国的卷烟价格差别巨大。
从国际标准来看，中国的卷烟价格仍较低，而中国的家庭收入正在不断增加。也就是说，如果政府不定期提税，人们对卷烟的负担能力将日益提高。
世卫组织将继续监测提税的效果，特别是对零售价格的影响。
“目前，中国约12%的成人死亡是由吸烟引起的，给中国卫生系统以及整个社会和经济带来了沉重负担。支付能力最低的贫困人群是高医疗费用的主要承受者，可能因此而落入因病致贫的恶性循环，”施博士表示。
“通过提高烟草税，中国政府可以减少上述损失，增加收入，改善人民健康，尤其是贫困人群的健康。这是典型的双赢政策，”施博士说。
施博士最后表示：“中国的吸烟率即使只是略有下降，都意味着减少了数百万的吸烟者，他们将因此避免了吸烟导致的疾病和死亡。烟草制品价格直接关系到烟草消费水平；换言之，价格越高，将有越多人的生命得到挽救。”
获取更多信息，请访问世卫组织驻华代表处网站：http://www.wpro.who.int/china/zh/ 或关注世界卫生组织微博：http://www.weibo.com/whoinchina 。
关于世界卫生组织
世卫组织是联合国系统内的卫生指导与协调机构，负责在全球卫生健康相关工作中发挥领导作用，制定卫生健康研究议程，设立规范及标准，阐述循证的政策备选方案，向各国提供技术支持，以及监控和评估卫生健康趋势。
更多信息请垂询
吴琳琳女士
世卫组织驻华代表处
电子邮箱：wul@who.int
办公电话：+86 10 6532 7191
China Just Raised Tobacco Taxes. Smokers Might Not Notice
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-08/china-just-raised-tobacco-taxes-smokers-might-not-notice
China’s 300 million smokers just learned that, as of Sunday, their government will more than double the consumption tax on cigarettes to 11 percent—a move that ordinarily would draw unqualified support from the World Health Organization.
China loses 1 million people each year to smoking-related diseases, and raising the nation’s current 5 percent tax rate is seen by health advocates as one of the most effective ways to reduce that grim toll. Last year WHO even adopted the theme “Raise Taxes on Tobacco” at its May 31 World No-Tobacco Day.
Still, in China, where the state serves as both the tobacco regulator and the cigarette manufacturer, a tobacco-tax increase isn’t always what it appears to be. The 5 percent consumption tax was introduced in 2009, along with higher taxes on manufacturing cigarettes. But smokers were largely shielded from the impact. “The day after the announcement, the tobacco regulator said it would swallow the additional cost and kept the retail price unchanged,” Jiang Yuan, a director of the National Tobacco Control Office, told Caixin Media last year. She was referring to the State Monopoly of Tobacco Administration, which runs China National Tobacco Corp., the world’s biggest cigarette maker. The People’s Daily called the 2009 tax increase “a dumpling with no fillings.”
Given that history, WHO’s China representative was cautious today in praising the latest tax increase, which is reportedly forecast to raise 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) in taxes this year. The health organization declared itself pleased to see the increase, which also includes a 0.005 yuan tax on every cigarette sold. “But it is crucial that the increase be passed on to retail prices,” WHO’s Bernhard Schwartländer said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.
If the tax isn’t passed to consumers, it would come directly from China National Tobacco’s earnings. As a rule, the state-owned enterprise sends the government 20 percent of its net profit as a dividend each year. The State Monopoly of Tobacco Administration couldn’t be reached for comment. While the tobacco company’s recent financial results haven’t been made public, China National Tobacco’s net profit in 2012 was 165 billion yuan ($26.6 billion).
The new announced tax increase comes just a few months after Li Keming, the brother of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, stepped down as the tobacco regulatory agency’s deputy director after 30 years with STMA. His departure for another job was viewed by some observers as a signal that China may take new action to reduce smoking.
Health experts in China are optimistic that retail prices will be increasing this time. “I’m happy for those pressured by a price hike for cigarettes. I wish more people could not afford to buy,” Xu Guihua, deputy director of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, a nongovernmental organization, wrote on her microblog. She punctuated her post with a smiling emoji.
Amended China law curbs tobacco ads in land of smokers
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/04/25/us-china-tobacco-idUKKBN0NG04H20150425
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s parliament has passed legislation that restricts tobacco advertising in public, strengthening efforts to curb smoking in a country where more than a billion people are smokers or exposed to second-hand smoke.
A revised Advertisement Law approved on Friday by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body, bans tobacco ads in the mass media, in public places, on public vehicles and outdoors, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Smoking is a major health crisis for China. More than 300 million people have made cigarettes part of the social fabric, and Xinhua said another 740 million people are exposed to second-hand smoke.
Last year, a health official said China was considering raising cigarette prices and taxes. The State Council, China’s cabinet, has issued a draft regulation to ban indoor smoking, limit outdoor smoking and end tobacco advertising.
The amended law also outlaws tobacco products, their packaging and trademarks in advertisements for other products or services, Xinhua reported.
China’s powerful State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, run by the younger brother of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang until February, had lobbied intensely to water down proposed restrictions on advertising, sources told Reuters in September.
The tobacco monopoly wields extraordinary power because it provides an estimated 7-10 percent of government revenue – as much as 816 billion yuan ($131.8 billion) in 2013.
Other changes were also made to the Advertisement Law.
One bans advertising for dairy products, drinks and foods that claim to be a substitute for breast milk, Xinhua reported. Another stipulates that advertisements for drugs, medical equipment and healthcare products cannot use endorsements testifying to the effects or safety of the products.
The revised law increases punishments for false advertising, bars children under the age of 10 from endorsing any products and prohibits advertising in schools or on educational materials, Xinhua reported.
The national flag, emblem and anthem, as well as the army’s flag, emblem and song, are made off limits to advertisers, it said.