On March 8, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it is proposing a long-awaited rule on so-called “tobacco product manufacturing practices.” Here are some preliminary thoughts on the proposed rule...more
In this second of a two-part series, Stephen Piepgrass continues his discussion with colleagues Bryan Haynes, Agustin Rodriguez and Nick Ramos about significant developments in the tobacco industry during the past year, and...more
On February 24, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) issued a response to the report prepared by the Reagan-Udall Foundation in December 2022. The Foundation’s report was originally commissioned by FDA Commissioner...more
California voters have approved Senate Bill 793, which prohibits tobacco retailers from selling flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers. A lawsuit has been filed in federal court claiming that it is...more
Over the past few years, at least five states and several hundred localities have passed, or attempted to pass, laws banning flavored tobacco products. There have been a number of challenges to those laws—few of which have...more
The Department has issued updated guidance addressing remote sellers’ cigarette and tobacco tax responsibilities after the Minnesota Legislature’s mid-2021 amendments to the State’s cigarette and tobacco tax and tobacco...more
On July 28, the Iowa attorney general’s office filed suit against Philip Morris, USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., and 16 other tobacco companies, accusing them of defrauding Iowa of over $133 million by allegedly engaging in...more
FDA reports that the progress of its review of popular vapor products’ pending PMTAs remains in line with its first report....more
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced plans to publish a proposed rule that would establish a maximum nicotine level in cigarettes and certain “other combusted tobacco products.” At the moment, it is...more
On June 10, a bipartisan coalition of 31 state attorneys general, led by Idaho, Illinois, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania, sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf, asking the agency to...more
Status report concerns FDA’s review of 240 PMTAs submitted on or before September 9, 2020, for vapor products with larger market shares. FDA estimates that it will resolve most of these in the periods before July 2022 and...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied the Plaintiffs’/Appellants’ petition for a rehearing en banc following a divided panel’s holding that the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act neither...more
Retailers should take note that Philip Morris USA Inc., Altria Group, Inc, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company have reached an agreement with the United States Department of Justice on warnings to be placed in retail stores...more
New Virginia law addresses excise taxation and other requirements regarding remote retail sales of cigars and pipe tobacco to consumers in the Commonwealth....more
Last year we reported that Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan’s office settled with several online sellers over alleged violations of the state’s delivery sales ban of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) (the...more
On February 15, the Senate confirmed cardiologist Robert M. Califf, M.D., to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He’s no stranger to the agency. Dr. Califf served a brief stint as FDA’s commissioner of food and...more
In August 2021, Swisher International Inc. filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking to have the FDA’s Deeming Rule declared invalid. Swisher followed its lawsuit with a petition for injunction to...more
Some cigarette pack labels may soon feature the phrases “95% less nicotine,” “helps reduce your nicotine consumption,” and “… greatly reduces your nicotine consumption.” On December 23, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration...more
More than a year and a half ago, in March 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its final rule on a graphic-warning requirement for cigarettes. The rule—initially slated to take effect June 18, 2021—would...more
As of October 20, 2021, the final rule of the U.S. Postal Service (the “USPS”) regarding the treatment of electronic nicotine delivery systems (“ENDS”) in the mail is available for public inspection via the link here. The...more
On October 5, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) published in the Federal Register its Final Rule on the content and format of reports intended to demonstrate the substantial equivalence of a tobacco product (“SE...more
On Friday, July 23, 2021, the attached bill was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. In the Senate it was introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), along with Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Susan...more
Troutman Pepper Strategies (TPS), a full-service government affairs and issue management arm of Troutman Pepper, regularly communicates with members of Congress and staff, including relevant committee staff, regarding the...more
In December 2020, the Florida Supreme Court refused to take up R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.‘s appeal of a ruling requiring the company to continue to make annual tobacco settlement payments to the state of Florida.
Originally...more
On June 11, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) withdrew an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) for premium cigars issued in March 2018 as part of the Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and...more