Gov’t announces new tobacco control measures

This ranges from increasing penalties and more stringent enforcement actions.

Hong Kong aims to implement a new phase of tobacco control measures that will help combat illicit cigarettes and prevent the new generation from smoking.

The measures, which have come into immediate effect, include raising the maximum penalty for relevant offences relating to duty-not-paid tobacco from a $1m fine and two-year imprisonment to a $2m fine and seven-year imprisonment.

Another measure calls for listing the relevant offences under the Organised & Serious Crime Ordinance to enable the Customs & Excise Department (C&ED) to freeze assets associated with illicit tobacco activities.

Additionally, the penalty for offences of failing to declare to Customs Officers compoundable under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance will be increased from $2,000 to $5,000.

A further measure requires that cigarettes sold at a price lower than the tobacco duty be proved to be duty-paid

One more approach specifies prohibiting the provision of alternative smoking products and conventional smoking products to people aged below 18. This would mean offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and six months' imprisonment, and a fine of $25,000 respectively upon conviction.

For combating illicit cigarettes, the C&ED will continue to adopt a multipronged approach and take stringent enforcement actions on all fronts to combat the sale of illicit cigarettes.

It is preparing at full steam for the implementation of the duty stamp system, which enables frontline officers, the industry, as well as the general public, to more effectively distinguish between duty-paid and duty-not-paid cigarettes and combats "cheap-whites" on the market.

A pilot scheme is expected to be rolled out in early October, which will enable the C&ED to inspect the entire process from the production of cigarettes, their storage in bonded warehouses, to their rollout on the market after duty payment.

The first phase of the duty stamp system will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2026, with full implementation targeted for the second quarter of 2027.

Moreover, the Department of Health’s Tobacco & Alcohol Control Office will formulate implementation guidelines and inter-departmental collaboration and liaison mechanisms for the relevant new offences under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance to ensure a smoother law enforcement process.