With the reform attempt of separation of industry and commerce, where will the tobacco monopoly administrative examination and approval system go? China, a big tobacco country, how to make such a special industry bigger and stronger? This newspaper interviewed Dr. Zhou Hanhua from the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Zhou Hanhua has been studying the reform of the administrative examination and approval system and the formulation of the administrative licensing law, and participated in the design, demonstration and review of the examination and approval reform schemes of many departments.
Southern weekend: June 5438+October 2004 10, the "special zero certificate" will be cancelled soon, and foreign cigarettes will directly enter the terminal retail link. What impact do you think it will have on the domestic tobacco market? With the passage of time, the tariff on foreign tobacco entering the China market will be lower and lower. How to evaluate the changes in the domestic market after foreign tobacco directly enters the retail market?
Zhou Hanhua: Abolishing the special zero tariff and gradually reducing the tariff on foreign tobacco entering the China market are two important commitments made by China to the tobacco industry when it joined the World Trade Organization. Obviously, after these two measures are put in place, they may eventually have a certain impact on the domestic tobacco market and tobacco industry. However, I think how big the impact will be needs to be analyzed in detail. At least for a long time, this impact is very limited, and there is no need to exaggerate it too much.
First, the tobacco monopoly system was established by China's Tobacco Monopoly Law, and no changes and commitments were made in the WTO negotiations. All monopoly measures will continue to be retained, including the import of foreign cigarettes, and the monopoly must continue, and there will be no possibility of a large number of foreign cigarettes entering. Second, the cancellation of the special zero certificate only realized the national treatment of foreign cigarettes at the retail terminal, and had no direct impact on the import link. In other words, it's just that there are more people sharing the cake, and the cake is still so big. Third, although reducing tariffs will strengthen the competitiveness and import pressure of foreign tobacco, we still maintain the import monopoly system, which can only be operated by China Tobacco Import and Export Corporation. In addition, the price of foreign cigarettes in China is much higher than that in China, and there is limited room for price reduction (we also maintain price control). If it is lower than the cost or its domestic market price, it is suspected of dumping or even monopoly.
Therefore, I think that for a long time, the proportion of foreign tobacco in China tobacco market should be maintained at around 3%. Of course, this judgment requires some preconditions. First, the import franchise system can still maintain its unity. Second, the corresponding anti-dumping and anti-monopoly measures can be put in place as soon as possible.
Southern Weekend: The tobacco industry can be said to be the last field of administrative monopoly in China, but compared with other administrative monopoly fields, the tobacco industry has its particularity. How to evaluate the administrative monopoly of tobacco industry? How do you evaluate the tobacco monopoly system in China?
Zhou Hanhua: When we talk about the tobacco monopoly system, we should first see its particularity. First, tobacco is essentially a product harmful to public health. It is different from telecommunications and civil aviation. It is not that the more you produce, the better, nor is it that the more smokers there are. Second, the formation of tobacco monopoly has its historical reasons. After more than 20 years' development, it has provided the country with a tax profit of10 billion yuan every year, which has a decisive impact on the national finance and cannot be easily changed. Thirdly, tobacco monopoly has a close relationship with the current development level of our country, especially with the weak supervision ability of our government. Free liberalization may lead to market chaos and a large loss of tax revenue, which can be proved by the current situation of liquor industry. These are several very important characteristics of the tobacco monopoly system at this stage.
Of course, we also see that tobacco, the most popular and market-oriented product, is now subject to the strictest monopoly system. From upstream to downstream, from planting tobacco leaves to selling tobacco, all links are strictly managed. This management method is not only costly, but also ineffective, with many contradictions and problems. Therefore, it is urgent to introduce market-oriented mechanism into tobacco monopoly system, strengthen competition, and make enterprises more dynamic and internationally competitive.
Southern Weekend: After China's entry into WTO, China's tobacco monopoly system has been greatly challenged. The Tobacco Monopoly Bureau recently stressed that the monopoly system will not be abolished, but after China's entry into WTO, the existing tobacco monopoly system in China must be adjusted. What do you think is the direction of future reform?
Zhou Hanhua: I think the tobacco industry must adapt to the requirements of the socialist market economy and introduce the market mechanism on the premise of adhering to the tobacco monopoly system. Specifically, it is necessary to promote the construction of cigarette sales network, realize macro-control objectives in a market-oriented way, and gradually replace the administrative examination and approval management model; Steadily push forward the reform pace of separating government from enterprise; The distribution and adjustment of cigarette production plan gradually expand the application scope of market-oriented means; Gradually form a market-oriented adjustment mechanism for tobacco leaves; Explore the competitive distribution method of tobacco products retail license; According to the different nature of administrative examination and approval, different measures are taken to standardize the current administrative examination and approval procedures; Clarify the responsibility of administrative examination and approval of tobacco monopoly organs and strengthen law enforcement; To stipulate a system that is convenient for the relative person to supervise the tobacco monopoly examination and approval authority; Explore various forms of in-process and post-event supervision systems to maintain fair competition order in the tobacco market. It should be admitted that every reform measure will be very difficult and will involve the readjustment of power and interests. In addition to the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, the market-oriented reform of the tobacco industry should attract the attention of higher management departments.
Southern Weekend: Japan, Thailand and many other countries have monopoly systems in the tobacco industry, but they were forced to cancel them in the process of market opening. Will China go their way?
Zhou Hanhua: With the increase of national financial resources and the gradual implementation of various supporting reform measures, I believe that the tobacco monopoly system will eventually become history. Of course, it is still difficult to predict how long this process will take.
Southern Weekend: One direction of tobacco reform is the separation of industry and commerce. Anhui has made a successful attempt, and Guangdong China Tobacco Industry Corporation was listed on May 28th. Will industrial and commercial separation be the direction of national tobacco reform? Is it enough to separate business from industry? On this basis, will there be a separation of government from enterprise?
Zhou Hanhua: The separation of industry and commerce is certainly a direction of reform. In recent years, the tobacco industry has been summarizing and popularizing a series of experiences and practices in the construction of cigarette sales network, and has determined the basic operation mode of the network. The construction of sales network can play an active role in regulating the market, serving customers, cultivating brands and stabilizing price increment. I believe that the separation of industry and commerce, especially the construction of sales network, can help the tobacco industry to carry out many profound changes from administrative monopoly to economic monopoly, from management to service, from administrative examination and approval management to market-oriented supervision. Of course, in this process, it is bound to involve the establishment of a modern enterprise system and the separation of government from enterprises. In my opinion, separating government from enterprises should be a top priority for the tobacco industry.
Southern Weekend: With the cancellation of the Economic and Trade Commission, the future of the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau has been controversial. Under the background of China's entry into WTO, what will happen to the future of the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau?
Zhou Hanhua: As mentioned in the previous question, it is urgent to separate government from enterprises in the tobacco industry. The separation of government from enterprise has caused many disadvantages, which is not conducive to improving the competitiveness of enterprises and strengthening the law enforcement of tobacco industry. The tobacco monopoly system does not stipulate that government and enterprises should not be separated, and there is no such provision in law. I think that under the monopoly system, the functions of monopoly management organs can only be strengthened, not weakened. When the monopoly system becomes history one day, the so-called skin will not exist, and monopoly administration will naturally become history. Therefore, we can say that the future trend of monopoly administration is not linear, but spiral.
Southern Weekend: Foreign tobacco companies such as Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco are all preparing to enter the China market. How do you evaluate them? How will the international tobacco control action affect the future tobacco market?
Zhou Hanhua: This is a very complicated question. China has the largest population of smokers in the world, with nearly 400 million smokers. Moreover, we also see that there are more and more smokers in developing countries like China, and they are getting younger and younger. With the strengthening of international tobacco control movement, especially the strengthening of domestic tobacco control policies in developed countries, international tobacco giants tend to transfer their markets to developing countries. Look at many of our sports TV programs, and everyone can feel this influence. You know, the number of people who die from smoking in China every year is more than the sum of traffic accidents and industrial and mining accidents. Therefore, government agencies and various social organizations, including our media, have special social responsibilities. We should have a modern "no smoking" campaign to keep people away from tobacco.
Southern Weekend: Many domestic scholars put forward some good ideas on tobacco system reform. How do you evaluate them? What are the schemes with higher recognition now?
Zhou Hanhua: Generally speaking, there are two opposing views on the reform of the tobacco industry. One view is that a thorough reform should be carried out, the monopoly system should be abolished immediately and free competition should be liberalized; Another view is that the monopoly system should not be reformed. I think both opinions are biased. I advocate taking the middle road, which is also a highly recognized plan. First, on the premise of maintaining the monopoly system, introduce market-oriented mechanism and strengthen competition. At a certain historical stage, we will consider abolishing the monopoly system.