The General Office of the State Council recently issued the "Opinions on the Whole Chain Crackdown on Illegal Activities Involving Tobacco" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), proposing a series of targeted policy measures to solve prominent problems such as tobacco counterfeiting, sales, and smuggling, continuously purify the tobacco market environment, and effectively safeguard national interests and consumer rights. The Opinion requires concerted efforts to crack down on the smuggling of counterfeit tobacco products from overseas. Strengthen law enforcement cooperation with relevant countries, severely crack down on overseas counterfeiting of Chinese tobacco brands, and resolutely investigate and punish illegal tobacco that flows into and through our country. Strengthen law enforcement cooperation between sea and land, and accurately crack down on maritime tobacco smuggling activities. Strengthen the comprehensive rectification of tobacco related issues at land borders and ports, and severely crack down on various forms of tobacco smuggling activities. Strengthen the control of tobacco related activities in various special areas, and strictly prohibit the infringement of intellectual property rights and the smuggling or disguised smuggling of tobacco through transit transportation, transit trade, and transit trade. Strengthen the control of tobacco related risks in inbound and outbound transportation vehicles and international postal parcels, and investigate and punish in accordance with the law the smuggling of tobacco through cross-border e-commerce logistics, international postal parcels and other channels carried by personnel of inbound and outbound transportation vehicles. The Opinion requires a high-pressure crackdown on illegal activities related to smoking within the country. Cut off the supply chain of raw materials and tobacco machinery for tobacco counterfeiting, strengthen the source control of tobacco counterfeiting, and strictly prevent and control the transfer and spread of tobacco counterfeiting. Strictly investigate the illegal storage, transportation, and delivery of tobacco related products, rectify the illegal operation of tobacco related products with tobacco monopoly retail licenses, and severely crack down on the sale of various illegal tobacco related products. We will clean up and rectify illegal sales of tobacco related products on the Internet. Strengthen the supervision of electronic cigarettes in all aspects, and strictly investigate and punish illegal activities such as the production, wholesale, transportation, and sale of electronic cigarettes, as well as the export and return of electronic cigarettes. It is strictly prohibited to produce and sell tobacco and nicotine containing products such as cigarettes, nicotine bags, and e-pastes without permission. Illegal production and sale of products with appearance, usage, and main functions similar to tobacco, such as empty tube cigarettes, tea cigarettes, and flower cigarettes, as well as simple tobacco making machinery, will be severely cracked down on. The Opinion proposes to strengthen the support and guarantee for cracking down on illegal activities related to smoking. Improve the vertical management system of the tobacco industry, establish a mechanism for inter departmental entrusted law enforcement, and strengthen the effective connection between tobacco monopoly administrative law enforcement and criminal justice. Strengthen professional law enforcement forces and accelerate the standardized and specialized construction of law enforcement teams. Strengthen law enforcement supervision and comprehensively promote strict, standardized, fair, and civilized law enforcement. The Opinion emphasizes that all regions and relevant departments should attach great importance to cracking down on illegal activities related to smoking, fully fulfill their territorial and regulatory responsibilities in cracking down on illegal activities related to smoking, ensure the organic connection of all work chains in cracking down on illegal activities related to smoking, and ensure the effective implementation of various task measures. (New Society)