IQOS heating tobacco is a tobacco product produced by Philip Morris, which is restricted by tobacco monopoly laws in China. It is illegal to distribute iqos in the country.
Recently, the People’s Court of Chengxi District, Xining City, Qinghai Province opened a court hearing on the suspected crime of illegal business operations by the defendant Mi, and pronounced the sentence in court.
From March 2018 to March 2019, without the permission of the tobacco monopoly administrative department, Mi purchased the “HEETS”, “Marlboro” and “FIIT” brands from Zhang (a separate case) through online shopping. There are a total of 241 IQOS electronic cigarette heatsticks, and the total purchase amount is 68,780 yuan. After the goods arrived, the defendant Mi sold the above-mentioned electronic cigarette bombs in WeChat Moments and the video game shop where he worked.
The court found that the above behavior of the defendant Mi violated the relevant prohibition of sales in the national tobacco monopoly management laws and regulations. The amount amounted to more than 68,000 yuan. The circumstances were serious. He was eventually sentenced to six months of detention and punished for the crime of illegal business operations. Ten thousand yuan in gold.
The judge later stated that the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration’s “Notice on the Implementation of the Identification and Inspection of New Cigarette Products” made it clear: IQOS, GLO, PLOOM, and REVO four types of new cigarette products contain tobacco characteristic components, which belong to tobacco products and are included in cigarette identification. Check the catalog. The implementing regulations of the Tobacco Monopoly Law stipulate that license holder who has obtained a tobacco monopoly retail license shall purchase goods from the local tobacco monopoly wholesale enterprise and accept the supervision of the issuing authority. Since China has not yet imported IQOS tobacco products, certificate holders are temporarily not allowed to sell IQOS on the counter. The electronic cigarettes involved in this case are imported from abroad. The operation of this smuggled electronic cigarette product violates the National Tobacco Monopoly Law and is an illegal operation. Accordingly, the court made the above judgment.
