Lately, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration has released the Implementing Rules for Administrative Measures for Tobacco Monopoly Licenses (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") to solicit public comments by January 24, 2017.
The Draft for Comment provides that an application for the tobacco monopoly license filed by a wholesale enterprise intending to engage in the wholesale business of tobacco products within the province shall be accepted and examined by a prefecture-level tobacco monopoly administration at the place where its place of business is located, and be approved by the provincial tobacco monopoly administration. The Draft for Comment clearly states that relevant applications are categorized into new application, application for modification, application for renewal, etc., where the corporate name and other registered particulars are changed within the validity period of a tobacco monopoly license, the license holder shall file an application for modification timely. Also, the Draft for Comment requires that, where an acceptance agency receives an application and finds that the materials are insufficient or inconsistent with the statutory form, it shall immediately inform the applicant of all information to be supplemented on a one-off basis; where it is impossible to inform the applicant of all such information, the said body shall issue a written notification on a one-off basis within five days.