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Last year, the Hong Kong government put forward a bill seeking to ban the sale of alternative smoking products, including electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), heat-not-burntobaccoproducts and herbal cigarettes, provoking a fierce backlash from the industry and local smokers.

It is understood that recently during a meeting with lawmakers, the Food and Health Bureau said firmly that an across-the-board ban on the alternative smoking products is the way to go.

Earlier, the Liberal Party suddenly put forward an amendment to the bill, under which the party agrees that while the sale of e-cigarettes should be banned, heat-not-burn products should be handled separately and that they should be dealt with in the same manner as conventional cigarettes.

Sources have revealed that the Liberal Party has started approaching other political parties in the Legislative Council to lobby for its proposal of regulate but not ban on heat-not-burn products.

It is said that although certain parties are still digging their heels in and favoring a sweeping ban, some others have begun to soften their stance, believing that the government should analyze the reaction of smokers and cigarette retailers from a more rational angle, estimating that the amendment proposed by the Liberal Party may stand a chance of getting passed in Legco.

Peter Shiu Ka-fai, the Liberal lawmaker representing the wholesale and retail sector in the Legco functional constituency and spearheading the regulate but not ban push, has explained that people have often confused e-cigarettes with heat-not-burn products.

The fact is, he said, the two products are completely different when it comes to the substances and chemicals they contain, with heat-not-burn cigarettesbearing a close resemblance to conventional cigarettes in terms of their ingredients.

As such, Shiu argued that if the authorities clamp down on heat-not-burn cigarettes, it will give rise to questions as to why conventional tobacco products are not completely banned as well.

Meanwhile, it is understood that the government has been thrown off guard by the bill amendment put forward by the Liberals, and the fate of Shius proposal of going easy on heat-not-burn cigaretteswill pretty much depend on whether his party can pull off bipartisan support from both the pro-establishment camp and the pan-dems in the legislature.

A few months ago, a number of parties in the pro-democracy camp were still inclined toward banning the alternative smoking products as proposed by the government.

Nevertheless, their attitude on this issue has begun to change recently.

As a pan-democratic figure has said bluntly, while there has been evidence showing the substantial health risks posed by e-cigarettes to the human body and that he agrees that they must be banned, he is not sure if heat-not-burn cigarettes should be banned as well.

Given the similar ingredients contained in heat-not-burn cigarettes and conventional cigarettes, the pan-dem says he doesnt understand the logic behind cracking down on the former but letting off the latter.

Apart from the rationale argument, as we have learned, the Liberals have another advantage, i.e. time.

According to the analysis of another pan-dem, as the Legco House Committee is still unable to elect a new chairperson despite having held 10 meetings, one can assume that it is highly unlikely for the bills committee, which is currently discussing the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2019, to finish its scrutiny anytime soon.

And given that there are only about seven months left in the current Legco session, if some lawmakers mount filibusters in the bills committee meetings, chances are, the government would be unable to arrange for the resumption of second reading of the bill by July next year.

If that scenario comes true, the bill will automatically be dead.

But even so, not all pro-establishment lawmakers are willing to rally behind the Liberal Party on this issue.

For example, Elizabeth Quat Pui-fan of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong has expressed in no uncertain terms her unwavering support for banning all e-cigarettes as well as heat-not-burn cigarettes.

As a lot is at stake for the e-cigarette industry, there is chatter that key players of the sector are now working aggressively to lobby not only major political parties but also lawmakers without any political affiliation.

This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Dec 19

Translation by Alan Lee

[Chinese version ]

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See more here:
Liberal Party pushes middle path on alternative smoking products - EJ Insight