appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Clifford Lo

Tobacco products in Hong Kong will need to carry laser labels to show they are legitimate goods, in a bid by local authorities to crack down on black-market cigarettes, the Post has learned.
Sources said authorities were studying how to update existing legislation to ensure the adoption of the labelling system, which involved goods being marked with a laser, to distinguish between duty-paid cigarettes and untaxed tobacco products.
One source said an exemption period was likely to be granted to tobacco companies to sell their products without the new label.
He said the labelling system was primarily designed to target criminals attempting to pass off untaxed cigarettes as legally duty-paid ones by using packages carrying statutory health warnings.
Such contraband cigarettes are known as “cheap whites” and are understood to be sold to retailers such as news-stands and groceries, enticing them with the promise of high profits by distributing untaxed tobacco products.
The increase in tobacco tax in February’s budget pushed the average cost of a pack of 20 cigarettes up by HK$16 (US$2) to more than HK$90, with tax accounting for HK$66 of the sale price.
The Post has learned that a pack of contraband cigarettes goes for between HK$20 and HK$30 on the black market.
The illegal trade of cheap whites prompted a citywide crackdown by customs officers earlier this year.
In July, customs officers confiscated HK$140 million worth of contraband cigarettes in three shipping containers after intercepting a cargo vessel off Lamma Island.
About 10 million untaxed cigarettes were cheap white ones, accounting for about 30 per cent of the total seizure. The incident was one of this year’s major seizures of cheap white products.
On April 29, customs officers seized about 100,000 cheap white cigarettes during raids on a news-stand in Mei Foo and two stores in Kwai Chung and Tai Kok Tsui, resulting in the arrest of three suspects.
On the same day, they also raided a metal shed in Lok Ma Chau that was used as a storage facility, discovering 600,000 untaxed cigarettes.

The Post learned that some individuals arrested during the crackdown claimed they thought the cigarettes were legitimate because they bore statutory health warnings on their packages.
The Customs and Excise Department has repeatedly appealed to businesses not to buy cigarettes of unknown origin.
Cigarette smuggling activities in Hong Kong have surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with the value of seizures reaching HK$2.24 billion in the first 11 months of this year, 15 times the record before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 506 million illicit cigarettes seized between January and November would have generated about HK$1.64 billion in government tax revenue if the goods had been legally imported.
Customs officers impounded more than 650 million black market cigarettes worth HK$2.25 billion in the whole of 2023, the biggest annual cash value in more than two decades.
In Hong Kong, the sale, handling, purchase or possession of illicit cigarettes is punishable by up to two years in prison and a HK$1 million fine.
The government earlier said it aimed to reduce the city’s smoking rate from 9.1 per cent of over-15s to 7.8 per cent by the end of 2025.
The labelling system to identify duty-paid cigarettes is one of 10 tobacco control measures authorities proposed this year in an effort to reduce the number of smokers.
Other measures include further limiting public smoking areas and increasing penalties for illicit cigarette-related offences, as well as banning flavoured cigarettes.


7 teens swept up in police crackdown on bicycle-related offences in Tseung Kwan O

Woman arrested over child abuse in Hong Kong after dashcam video shows boy shoved

Hong Kong police investigate suspected pinhole cameras in gym changing rooms

Whistle-blower Jason Poon and wife charged over HK$6 million Covid-19 loan fraud

Crime in Hong Kong

Hong Kong to slap tobacco products with laser labels to root out contraband

A pack of contraband cigarettes goes for between HK$20 and HK$30 on the black market. Photo: May Tse

Hong Kong authorities seized 506 million illicit cigarettes between January and November of this year. Photo: Sun Yeung

Cigarette smuggling activities in Hong Kong surpass pre-pandemic levels: customs

Seized black market cigarettes are displayed by customs. In the first 11 months of this year, 18,780 people were arrested for smuggling, storing, distributing or peddling illicit cigarettes, a 71 per cent increase over the 10,995 arrests made during all of 2023. Photo: Sun Yeung

Hong Kong customs arrests 149 in crackdown on phone-order illicit cigarette trade

Customs arrested 12,273 people in connection with 12,850 cases involving illicit cigarettes during the first eight months of this year. Photo: Sun Yeung

Customs have said HK$5.6 million worth of contraband cigarettes were seized in the operation. Photo: Sun Yeung

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Sources say authorities studying updating law to introduce new labelling system, which involves goods being marked with laser


Sources say authorities studying updating law to introduce new labelling system, which involves goods being marked with laser.


.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sources say authorities studying updating law to introduce new labelling system, which involves goods being marked with laser

Sources say authorities studying updating law to introduce new labelling system, which involves goods being marked with laser