ENDS Chinese Vapes Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Senator Cotton, Tom [R-AR]
Introduced
Summary
Escalating civil penalties for imports of unauthorized electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). This bill would add a new Tariff Act section that charges per ENDS unit, raises penalties for evasion and repeat violations, and ties total fines to a shipment's U.S. retail value.
Show full summary
- Importers would face per-unit penalties for each ENDS device, cartridge, pod, or other article intended for separate consumer use. Penalties increase with multipliers for evasion, concealment of origin, transshipment, and repeat violations and are capped at 1,000 percent of a shipment's estimated U.S. retail value.
- Entities under common ownership would be treated as a single "person" for penalties if they share 25% ownership, a majority of officers or directors, or are otherwise under common control, widening liability across related companies.
- Customs and Border Protection would set the shipment's estimated retail value by regulation and apply existing penalty procedures for mitigation, collection, and judicial review. A savings clause preserves the ability of agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice to pursue additional civil or criminal remedies.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Higher penalties for illegal vape imports
If enacted, the bill would make it illegal to bring unauthorized e-cigarette products (ENDS) into U.S. customs territory. The rule would apply to entries after enactment. It would create civil penalties per unit: up to $5,000 for fraud, $1,000 for gross negligence, and $500 for negligence. Penalties could be multiplied up to 2× for transshipment to evade duties, up to 3× for repeat violations within 3 years, and up to 5× when both apply. Total penalty per shipment would be capped at 1,000 percent of the shipment's estimated U.S. retail value. The bill would define key terms like "unit" and "unauthorized ENDS," and give Customs (CBP) authority to set rules to calculate estimated retail value. Penalties would be handled under the existing section 592 assessment, mitigation, collection, and judicial review procedures. The bill would also say CBP, FDA, DOJ, and other agencies could still pursue other civil, criminal, or administrative remedies. Each illegal entry or attempted entry would count as a separate violation.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Cotton, Tom [R-AR]
AR • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov