Shenzhen Issues First Fine for Failure to Display No Vaping Sign
Dou Shicong
DATE:  Jul 22 2020
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Shenzhen Issues First Fine for Failure to Display No Vaping Sign Shenzhen Issues First Fine for Failure to Display No Vaping Sign

(Yicai Global) July 22 -- Shenzhen authorities fined an electronic cigarette store CNY2,000 (USD286) yesterday in the first enforcement of its new rule making the display of no smoking signs featuring e-cigarettes mandatory, as the city moves to include vaping in its blanket ban on smoking in indoor public places.

An on-site inspection of the shop in May found staff and visitors vaping inside and there was no ‘no-smoking’ sign displayed, Shenzhen’s Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau said on its WeChat account yesterday.

Smoking in indoor public places has been forbidden in China’s fourth most populous city since January 2017. Last October Shenzhen extended this ban to include vaping and all no-smoking signs were redesigned to include the text and image of e-cigarettes.

With vaping now falling under the general category of ‘smoking,’ stores selling e-cigarettes are obliged to post the new no-smoking sign. Failure to do so could result in an initial CNY2,000 fine and a further CNY10,000 penalty should the shop fail to comply within a certain period of time. Selling e-cigarettes to a minor is punishable by a CNY30,000 fine.

Although e-cigarettes are not alight but are powered by batteries, they still generate a great deal of second-hand smoke that leads to severe indoor air pollution, Zhang Jianshu, chairman of the Beijing Tobacco Control Association, told the Beijing News. Their trendy nature also has a bad influence on the younger generations, encouraging them to smoke, he added.

Unlike Shenzhen, Beijing has yet to include e-cigarettes in its regulations, said Cui Xiaobo, secretary general of the association. This leads to complications when his staff have to deal with complaints regarding vaping which have been on the rise over the last two years, he added.

Editor: Kim Taylor

Follow Yicai Global on
Keywords:   Shenzhen,E-Cigarettes,Penalty