China's state tobacco authority blocks complete ban on cigarette ads: report

Intense lobbying by China’s powerful state tobacco monopoly resulted in the weakening of controversial legislation that had been meant to introduce a complete advertising ban in the world’s largest consumer and producer of tobacco, sources said.

The proposed total advertising ban pitted anti-smoking advocates and the health ministry, which blames cigarettes for causing one million deaths in China a year, against the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration.

So far the tobacco monopoly has won, with China’s largely rubberstamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, retaining a partial ban after discussions last week.

The administration controls 98 per cent of China’s vast cigarette market. It wields extraordinary power because it provides an estimated 7 per cent to 10 per cent of government revenues in China - as much as 816 billion yuan (US$132.87 billion) in 2013.

State news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday that Chinese lawmakers had called for a complete ban on tobacco advertisements during discussions on amendments to the 20-year-old Advertisement Law, including all media and public venues.

However, five sources have told Reuters that, before the bill was submitted to the parliament, the state tobacco monopoly!managed to remove a complete ban and block efforts to reintroduce it despite the health ministry’s backing, demonstrating the power that it wields in Beijing.