. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CHN/78 
21 January 2005 
 (05-0253) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English 
  
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Standardization Administration of China (SAC) 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:         
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   Cigarettes  (ICS:65.160) 
5. Title, number of pages and langu age(s) of the notified document:   China National 
Standard Cigarettes 
Part 2: Cigarettes-Mark  
Part 3: Cigarettes-Technical Requirements for Packing, Making, Storage and Transport Part 4: Cigarettes-Technical Requirements for Sense Evaluation  Part 5: Cigarettes-Mainstream smoke Part 6: Cigarettes-Quality Evaluation  (25 pages, in Chinese) 
 
6. Description of content:   Part 2 Cigarettes -Mark 
If the following articles are viol ated, the inspected lot will be regarded as disqualified.  
- The cigarette brand shall conform with s tipulations of the “Trademark Law of the 
People's Republic of China”.  The Chinese char acters used for cigarettes-mark shall meet 
the requirements specified on Chinese charact ers, and using Chin ese phonetic alphabet and 
foreign characters simultaneously are permitted.   
- The name of province/city and manufacturer or just the name of the manufacturer 
shall be printed on the unit packet.  The manuf acture’s name shall be the name of the 
manufacturer that has been registered lega lly and can bear the responsibility for the 
products' quality.  If the cigarettes are produced by the manufacturers which manage their business separately but collaborate with each other according to the contract or protocol, the 
name of the manufacturer, which is the owner of the brand, shall be printed on the unit 
packet of the cigarette, and the name of the manufacture producing the cigarettes can be printed too.  - The bar code shall conform with the requirements of the National Standard 
GB12904 “Bar code of commodity” and be sure of being identified accurately.  
 G/TBT/N/CHN/78 
Page 2  
 
- The tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide contents in the mainstream of smoke shall 
be printed on the packet and carton in Chinese w ith font size not less than 2.0 mm in height. 
- The warning shall be printed on the packet  and carton in Chinese with font size not 
less than 2.0 mm in height.  Part 3 Cigarettes-Technical Requirement s for Packing, Making, Storage and 
Transport 
- If the sum score of packing and making quality is less than 60, the inspected lot 
shall be regarded as disqualified.  During s upervision inspection, th e score of packing and 
making quality is deducted according to it em A and item B of quality defection. 
 Part 4 Cigarettes-Technical Requirements for Sense Evaluation 
- If it is obviously off-taste or mouldy, the inspected lot shall be regarded as 
disqualified.  Part 5 Cigarettes-Mainstream smoke  
If the following articles are violated, the inspect ed lot shall be regarded as disqualified.  
 - If the tar content in the mainstream of smoke labelled on packages of cigarettes is not more than 4mg, actually tested tar content – tar content labelled on the packet ≤ 1.0mg. 
 
- If the tar content in the mainstream of smoke labelled on packages of cigarettes is between 5mg and 10mg (including 5mg and 10mg) , actually tested tar content – tar content 
labelled on the packet ≤ 2.0mg. 
 - If the tar content in the mainstream of smoke labelled on packages of cigarettes is 
not less than 11mg, actually tested tar content – tar content labelled on the packet ≤ 2.5mg. 
 
Part 6  Cigarettes-Quality Evaluation  
The inspections of cigarettes should include type inspection,  delivery  inspection and 
supervision inspection.  Type inspection shall include all items.  If there is no particular 
requirement, item A and item B of quality def ection inspection shall be carried out during 
supervision inspection.  The items for  delivery  inspection could be decided by the factory 
itself according to its quality control requirements but in order to guarantee product quality, item A of quality defection must be inspected at least. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
For the protection of human health.  
8. Relevant documents:   Circular of State Tobacco Monopoly Administration of China on 
Modifying Requirements for the Tar Limit in  Cigarette Mainstream Smoke (notified as 
G/TBT/N/CHN/42). 
9. Proposed date of adoption:  90 days after circulation by WTO Secretariat  
Proposed date of entry into force: 6 months after adoption 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days after circulation by WTO Secretariat 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:        
China WTO/TBT National Enquiry Point 
Tel:  + 86 10 82260618 Fax:  + 86 10 82262448 E-mail:  tbt@aqsiq.gov.cn