Hong Kong penalties for illicit cigarettes to go up, anti-forgery features to be used
- Source says duty-paid cigarettes will have to be marked with anti-forgery features, but some extra penalties suggested are put on hold
Hong Kong duty-paid cigarettes will need to be labelled with anti-forgery features, and penalties for the sale and purchase of contraband will be increased under a series of measures to be announced by health and customs authorities on Thursday, the Post has learned.
But controversial proposals, including a ban on Hongkongers born after a certain date from buying cigarettes at all are only to be “explored further” as long-term measures, a source close to the policy decision-making process said.
“Combating illicit cigarettes will be a focus,” the source said. “The labelling requirement for duty-paid cigarettes will help buyers and enforcement officers to differentiate duty-paid cigarettes from illicit cigarettes, including the so-called cheap whites.”
Authorities said there was no legal definition of “cheap whites”, but the term is generally used for less-well-known cigarette brands.
Their packaging is the same as ordinary duty-paid cigarettes, including the graphic health warnings.
Illegal cigarette syndicates may pass off contraband products at retail level as duty-paid items, which are covered by permits.
“It is already an offence currently for anyone to buy illicit cigarettes,” the source said. “It’s just difficult to prove someone buying illicit cigarettes knowingly without any anti-forgery label.”
Officials, including Lo Chung-mau, the health secretary, Ronald Lam, the director of health, and customs chief Louise Ho Pui-shan are expected to announce the new rules on Thursday afternoon.
A three-month consultation period on anti-smoking strategies was completed last September.
The sale, handling, purchase or possession of illicit cigarettes are all illegal under the present regulations, with a maximum fine of HK$1 million (US$128,045) and two years in jail on conviction.
Customs officials last week proposed raising the penalties for offenders to a HK$2 million fine and seven years in jail.
About 9.5 per cent of the population, nearly 600,000 people, smoke, half of them aged 50 or more.
Authorities also highlighted an increase in the number of women smokers and 7 per cent of secondary school pupils have been found to have had experience of the habit.
Health authorities said earlier that the city would work towards a tobacco end-game, usually defined as a reduction in the percentage of smokers to 5 per cent or less.
Lo said last year that the government was working toward a tobacco-free Hong Kong by laying out a long-term target for after 2025.
Measures to be announced are expected to cover four areas – supply regulation and suppression of demand, a ban on promotion and reduction in the appeal of smoking, attractiveness, and expansion of non-smoking areas harm mitigation, as well as improved education and more support for those trying to kick the habit.
Other proposals floated during the public consultation included more controversial methods, such as a ban on smoking while walking and prohibition of the sale of tobacco products to people born after a specified date.
But it is understood that the two measures would only be “explored further” as mid- to long-term measures.
The New Zealand government announced last year it would scrap its world-leading smoking ban for people born after January 1, 2009 to help fund tax cuts.
Paul Chan Mo-po, the financial secretary, increased tobacco tax by 80 HK cents (US 10 cents) per cigarette in February, the second annual increase in a row.
Duties on other tobacco products were increased by the same proportion.
The change meant that the cost of a pack of cigarettes is about 70 per cent duty, a step closer to the 75 per cent level recommended by the World Health Organization.
The increase raised the average cost of a pack of 20 cigarettes by HK$16 to more than HK$90, compared to HK$19 to HK$38 a pack on the black market.
Higher costs and the return to normality after pandemic restrictions has led to an increase in cigarette smuggling.
More than 5,000 arriving passengers were fined for illicit tobacco over the first four months of the year.
Customs officers last week seized untaxed cigarettes worth HK$563 million during a 2½-month crackdown.
Dr David Lam Tzit-yuen, a medical sector lawmaker and member of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, welcomed the government’s decision to penalise people involved in the trade and purchase of contraband cigarettes.
He added the proposed labels on individual cigarettes to indicate duty had been paid would be an effective law enforcement tactic, as had been shown in places such as Singapore.
But Lam underlined the importance of better awareness that buying illicit cigarettes was an offence.
He also appealed to the government to boost knowledge of the risks through regular announcements of the number of people punished for buying contraband cigarettes.
Lam also backed stricter measures put on the back burner in the meantime, including a ban on smoking while walking.
“There is a significant societal consensus that ‘locomotive’ smokers should be banned, including within commercial sectors,” he said.
“As long as the challenges in law enforcement can be addressed, this is something that should be implemented as soon as possible.”
