PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary must write rules within 36 months after June 22, 2009, that require testing, reporting, and sometimes public disclosure of chemicals, ingredients, and additives in tobacco products, including smoke chemicals, for each brand or subbrand the Secretary picks to protect health. If products are identical except for labels or packaging, they count as one brand. The rules can require companies to put tar and nicotine test results on labels, ads, or other places, and they can require other test results be shared if the Secretary decides it helps the public and won’t mislead people. The Secretary can do the testing or make companies do it. Small tobacco makers get extra time and special rules. The rules won’t apply to them until the later of two years after the final rules or the first compliance date set for larger makers. Small makers get four years to test and report all products, testing 25% of their products each year and testing the top sellers first. The Secretary can delay a small maker’s deadlines for hardship, but not beyond five years after the larger makers’ start date. New or changed products must follow the same schedule as larger makers. Small makers may join together to buy lab testing. If labs are too busy, a small maker that shows, within 90 days before a deadline, that it sent products for testing, that the products await testing, and that no lab can finish by the deadline at normal fees, will not be treated as violating the rules until the tests are reported or one year after the deadline, whichever comes first. The Secretary can grant extra one-year extensions for this reason. These timing rules only apply to these testing and reporting requirements and do not change any other legal deadlines.

Title 21, §387o

Food and Drugs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Testing, reporting, and disclosure

Not later than 36 months after June 22, 2009, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations under this chapter that meet the requirements of subsection (b).

(b)Contents of rules

The regulations promulgated under subsection (a)—

(1)shall require testing and reporting of tobacco product constituents, ingredients, and additives, including smoke constituents, by brand and subbrand that the Secretary determines should be tested to protect the public health, provided that, for purposes of the testing requirements of this paragraph, tobacco products manufactured and sold by a single tobacco product manufacturer that are identical in all respects except the labels, packaging design, logo, trade dress, trademark, brand name, or any combination thereof, shall be considered as a single brand; and

(2)may require that tobacco product manufacturers, packagers, or importers make disclosures relating to the results of the testing of tar and nicotine through labels or advertising or other appropriate means, and make disclosures regarding the results of the testing of other constituents, including smoke constituents, ingredients, or additives, that the Secretary determines should be disclosed to the public to protect the public health and will not mislead consumers about the risk of tobacco-related disease.

(c)Authority

The Secretary shall have the authority under this subchapter to conduct or to require the testing, reporting, or disclosure of tobacco product constituents, including smoke constituents.

(d)Small tobacco product manufacturers

(1)First compliance date

The initial regulations promulgated under subsection (a) shall not impose requirements on small tobacco product manufacturers before the later of— (A)

(B)the initial date set by the Secretary for compliance with such regulations by manufacturers that are not small tobacco product manufacturers.

(2)Testing and reporting initial compliance period

(A)4-year period

The initial regulations promulgated under subsection (a) shall give each small tobacco product manufacturer a 4-year period over which to conduct testing and reporting for all of its tobacco products. Subject to paragraph (1), the end of the first year of such 4-year period shall coincide with the initial date of compliance under this section set by the Secretary with respect to manufacturers that are not small tobacco product manufacturers or the end of the 2-year period following the final promulgation of such regulations, as described in paragraph (1)(A). A small tobacco product manufacturer shall be required—

(i)to conduct such testing and reporting for 25 percent of its tobacco products during each year of such 4-year period; and

(ii)to conduct such testing and reporting for its largest-selling tobacco products (as determined by the Secretary) before its other tobacco products, or in such other order of priority as determined by the Secretary.

(B)Case-by-case delay

Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the Secretary may, on a case-by-case basis, delay the date by which an individual small tobacco product manufacturer must conduct testing and reporting for its tobacco products under this section based upon a showing of undue hardship to such manufacturer. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the Secretary shall not extend the deadline for a small tobacco product manufacturer to conduct testing and reporting for all of its tobacco products beyond a total of 5 years after the initial date of compliance under this section set by the Secretary with respect to manufacturers that are not small tobacco product manufacturers.

(3)Subsequent and additional testing and reporting

The regulations promulgated under subsection (a) shall provide that, with respect to any subsequent or additional testing and reporting of tobacco products required under this section, such testing and reporting by a small tobacco product manufacturer shall be conducted in accordance with the timeframes described in paragraph (2)(A), except that, in the case of a new product, or if there has been a modification described in section 387j(a)(1)(B) of this title of any product of a small tobacco product manufacturer since the last testing and reporting required under this section, the Secretary shall require that any subsequent or additional testing and reporting be conducted in accordance with the same timeframe applicable to manufacturers that are not small tobacco product manufacturers.

(4)Joint laboratory testing services

The Secretary shall allow any 2 or more small tobacco product manufacturers to join together to purchase laboratory testing services required by this section on a group basis in order to ensure that such manufacturers receive access to, and fair pricing of, such testing services.

(e)Extensions for limited laboratory capacity

(1)In general

The regulations promulgated under subsection (a) shall provide that a small tobacco product manufacturer shall not be considered to be in violation of this section before the deadline applicable under paragraphs (3) and (4), if—

(A)the tobacco products of such manufacturer are in compliance with all other requirements of this subchapter; and

(B)the conditions described in paragraph (2) are met.

(2)Conditions

Notwithstanding the requirements of this section, the Secretary may delay the date by which a small tobacco product manufacturer must be in compliance with the testing and reporting required by this section until such time as the testing is reported if, not later than 90 days before the deadline for reporting in accordance with this section, a small tobacco product manufacturer provides evidence to the Secretary demonstrating that—

(A)the manufacturer has submitted the required products for testing to a laboratory and has done so sufficiently in advance of the deadline to create a reasonable expectation of completion by the deadline;

(B)the products currently are awaiting testing by the laboratory; and

(C)neither that laboratory nor any other laboratory is able to complete testing by the deadline at customary, nonexpedited testing fees.

(3)Extension

The Secretary, taking into account the laboratory testing capacity that is available to tobacco product manufacturers, shall review and verify the evidence submitted by a small tobacco product manufacturer in accordance with paragraph (2). If the Secretary finds that the conditions described in such paragraph are met, the Secretary shall notify the small tobacco product manufacturer that the manufacturer shall not be considered to be in violation of the testing and reporting requirements of this section until the testing is reported or until 1 year after the reporting deadline has passed, whichever occurs sooner. If, however, the Secretary has not made a finding before the reporting deadline, the manufacturer shall not be considered to be in violation of such requirements until the Secretary finds that the conditions described in paragraph (2) have not been met, or until 1 year after the reporting deadline, whichever occurs sooner.

(4)Additional extension

In addition to the time that may be provided under paragraph (3), the Secretary may provide further extensions of time, in increments of no more than 1 year, for required testing and reporting to occur if the Secretary determines, based on evidence properly and timely submitted by a small tobacco product manufacturer in accordance with paragraph (2), that a lack of available laboratory capacity prevents the manufacturer from completing the required testing during the period described in paragraph (3).

(f)Rule of construction

Nothing in subsection (d) or (e) shall be construed to authorize the extension of any deadline, or to otherwise affect any timeframe, under any provision of this chapter or the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act other than this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, referred to in subsec. (f), is div. A of Pub. L. 111–31, June 22, 2009, 123 Stat. 1776. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

of 2009 Amendment note set out under section 301 of this title and Tables.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Modification of Deadlines for Secretarial ActionWith respect to any time periods specified in an amendment by div. A of Pub. L. 111–31 that begin on June 22, 2009, within which the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to carry out and complete specified activities, with certain limitations, the calculation of such time periods shall commence on the first day of the first fiscal quarter following the initial 2 consecutive fiscal quarters of fiscal year 2010 for which the Secretary has collected fees under section 387s of this title, and the Secretary may extend or reduce the duration of one or more such time periods, except that no such period shall be extended for more than 90 days, see section 6 of Pub. L. 111–31, set out as a note under section 387 of this title.

§387o Regulation Requirement