A COMPANY in Nanshan District was fined 2,000 yuan (US$287) as its subsidiary, an e-cigarette retailer called RELX, had failed to post anti-smoking signs. It is the first such punishment in China, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

The store, located on the second floor of Tiley Fame City shopping mall in Nanshan, was busted during an anti-smoking campaign targeting electronic cigarettes launched by the city’s tobacco control office May 30 this year.

During the campaign, salesmen and customers in RELX were found vaping. No conspicuous warning signs were posted in the store, which apparently flouted the city’s tobacco control regulations.

The smokers in the store were each fined 50 yuan, while the store’s operator came under investigation for failing to post anti-smoking signs, it was reported.

According to article 39 of the city’s tobacco control regulations, if a tobacco product seller fails to post warning signs at conspicuous places of the premises, the market supervisory authority shall order the operator to make corrections within a certain time limit and impose a fine of 2,000 yuan.

A penalty of 10,000 yuan shall be imposed if the violator fails to make corrections within the time limit, as per the rules.

Shenzhen Yuelaiyueai Technology Co. Ltd., which owned RELX, accepted the punishment Tuesday afternoon, saying that it had made rectifications to its stores.

Xiong Jingfan, a technical officer of the smoke-free city project in Shenzhen, said she hoped that the issuance of the ticket to an e-cigarette store would prompt all tobacco product sellers to better fulfill their tobacco control responsibilities.

She added that e-cigarette stores should put up warning signs including “No Smoking” and “No Tobacco Sales to Minors” at conspicuous places. Meanwhile, e-cigarette stores are also nonsmoking places, and it is illegal for citizens to try out e-cigarettes in the stores.

According to research of the World Health Organization, e-cigarettes also contain nicotine, formaldehyde and other harmful compounds, which are harmful to public health. Last year, Shenzhen’s revised regulations on tobacco control officially incorporated e-cigarettes into the scope of the smoking ban.

(Zhang Yu)