In terms of the new type of likely tobaccos manufactured using natural nicotine extracted from tobacco stems or roots, it is impossible to apply legal regulations such as a license for the manufacturing, import, sale thereof, warning words and indications for ingredients thereof, etc., to them, and it is difficult to impose public charges and taxes such as the tobacco consumption tax, etc., on them as well. This Amendment aims to systematically manage likely tobaccos and ameliorate equity issues of regulation and taxation of existing tobaccos by expanding and regulating the definition of tobacco to include all parts of the tobacco plant as raw materials (Article 2).

It clarifies that any report on a transfer or takeover, etc., of a tobacco manufacturing business is a report requiring acceptance in order to induce expeditious and lawful treatment of the related civil petition and active administration of front-line administrative agencies by clearly prescribing the procedures for treating civil petitions closely related to public life and corporate activities, requires import and sale business entities to submit the certificate of fire-prevention performance to the competent Mayor/Do Governor being the registration administration agency hereafter instead of the Minister of Strategy and Finance in order to enhance stability in the distribution process, and clarifies the time of submission of the certificate of fire-prevention performance (Article 11-3 and Article 11-5).

Moreover, the Amendment, with the purpose of improving and supplementing the operation of the current system, prepares legal grounds for the preferential designation of retailers concerning persons, etc., of distinguished service to the State, clarifies the prohibition of retailer’s name lending, prohibits the provision of tobacco manufacturing equipment for profit to reinforce the management of handmade tobacco manufacturing and sales activities, etc. (Article 16 and Article 21)

Since the increase in tobacco prices in 2015, the scale of tobacco smuggling has increased and problems such as tax evasion due to illegal tobacco transactions, etc. As the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, the first protocol to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), was adopted in 2012, Korea needs to attach unique identifiers (UIs) to tobacco packs and establish a UI tracing system. Thus, the Amendment aims to prevent illegal tobacco transactions, tax evasion, and consumers’ damage due to illegal tobaccos by attaching UIs to tobacco packs and establishing a UI tracing system (Article 11-7).

It also prescribes maximum allowable limits of harmful ingredients of tobaccos to prohibit the manufacture or import of tobaccos with levels of harmful ingredients exceeding such limits, and aims to effectively manage harmful ingredients of tobaccos by disclosing harmful ingredients contained in tobaccos through the submission of data such as tobacco ingredients, etc., and induce people to stop smoking and protect public health (Article 20-2, Article 24-2, and Article 24-3).

The Amendment, in order to lower juveniles’ tobacco accessibility for their health in accordance with the purpose of FCTC, which recommends prohibiting the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in small packets to suppress the purchase of tobaccos by juveniles, prohibits the manufacture and sale of tobacco packs with less than 20 cigarettes (Article 25-6).

Revocation, etc., of tobacco manufacturing business license (Article 11-4), manufacture, import and certification of function of low ignition propensity cigarettes (Article 11-5), the attachment of unique identifiers and establishment and operation of a tobacco distribution tracing and control system (Article 11-7), sales of tobacco (Article 12), revocation, etc., of the registration of a tobacco sales business (Article 15), revocation, etc., of the designation as a retailer (Article 17), prohibition of the manufacture and import of tobaccos with harmful ingredients exceeding allowable levels (Article 20-2), prohibition of the provision of tobacco manufacturing equipment (Article 21), submission of data such as tobacco ingredients, etc. (Article 24-2), prohibition of the manufacture, import, and sales of cigarettes in small packets (Article 25-6)