TMA REPORT
BY FARRELL DELMAN
place prior to the formal introduction
of H.R. 5054 on April 26 to include the
above, wrote that “there remains a long
road ahead before this
budget amend-
ment
can effectively change the statutory
grandfather date for deemed products.”
Both the House and Senate will have
to pass H.R. 5054 with the amendment,
which also requires a presidential signa-
ture. K&H attorneys Chowdhury and
Dietle write it is unclear when the bill
would move through Congress and reach
the president, and it is “very possible, if
not probable,” that the deeming regula-
tion will be published before H.R. 5054
becomes law.
ON OTHER TOBACCO-
RELATED NEWS…
…The CDC’s National Youth Risk
Behavior Surveillance report for 2015,
which included public and private school
students in grades 9-12 in all 50 states
and the District of Columbia, found that
during the past 30 days, 10.8 percent of
high school students
reported smoking
at least once, down from 15.7 percent in
2013; 7.3 percent of students used smoke-
less tobacco, compared with 8.8 percent in
2013; 10.3 percent smoked cigars, cigaril-
los or little cigars, down from 12.6 percent
in 2013; and 24.1 percent of students had
used e-vapor products, for which compar-
ative figures were not available for 2013.
…Professional service company KP-
MG’s study titled “Project SUN” con-
ducted to estimate the scale of the
illicit
cigarette market
in the 28 EU countries
plus Norway and Switzerland, com-
missioned by Imperial Brands, BAT,
JT International and Philip Morris In-
ternational, found that smokers in the
EU consumed 53 billion contraband/
counterfeit cigarettes in 2015. That fig-
ure accounted for one in 10 cigarettes
smoked, depriving the governments of
up to $12.8 billion in lost tax revenues,
although illegal cigarettes as a proportion
of total consumption declined marginally
from 10.4 percent in 2014 to 9.8 percent
in 2015.
…In a letter to World Health Orga-
nization (WHO) Director-General Dr.
Margaret Chan, a coalition of 47 think
tanks, advocacy groups and organizations
from across the world said that
plain
packaging of tobacco products
infringes
on intellectual property rights (IPR).The
groups say that IPRs promote trade in
developed and emerging economies, and
that weakening it threatens public health
and safety by forcing consumers to make
“uninformed decisions” like tapping the
illicit market.
…European Commissioner for Health
and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis
announced that all 28 EU countries need
to comply with the
Tobacco Products
Directive
as of May 20, 2016.The Euro-
pean Commission listed some of the key
changes for tobacco products sold in the
EU under the new TPD:
1)
Graphic health warnings with cessation
information will cover 65 percent of the
front and back of cigarette and RYO to-
bacco packs and will be rotated every year;
2)
Cigarettes and RYO tobacco are no
longer permitted to have characterizing
flavors like menthol, candy and vanilla,
though flavored products with more than
a 3 percent market share, like menthol,
have until May 20, 2020 to comply;
3)
The labeling on tar, nicotine and car-
bon monoxide will be replaced with an
information message stating that “To-
bacco smoke contains over 70 substances
known to cause cancer”;
4)
Cigarette packs must have a “cuboid
shape” and have a minimum count of
20 pieces, with no “promotional and/or
misleading features” such as references to
lifestyle benefits and environmental ad-
vantages;
5)
Manufacturers are required to report
electronically on ingredients in all their
products sold in the EU;
6)
E-vapor products must come in child-
resistant packaging, with the e-liquid size
not exceeding 2ml for tanks and 10ml for
bottles, while the nicotine concentration
must not exceed 20mg/ml;
7)
E-vapor packaging must carry a list
of ingredients, nicotine content informa-
tion, and a health warning that they con-
tain nicotine and should not be used by
nonsmokers;
8)
E-vapor manufacturers must notify
EU Member States of all products they
place on the market and report their
sales volumes and consumer preferences
and trends, while Member States must
monitor the market for evidence, if any,
of e-vapor products leading to nicotine
addiction or tobacco consumption;
9)
EU countries may choose to ban
cross-border sales of tobacco products to
prevent access to products that are not
TPD-compliant; and
10)
Measures to combat illegal trade,
including an EU-wide track-and-trace
system and security features like holo-
grams, will be introduced for cigarettes
and RYO tobacco in 2019 and for other
tobacco products in 2024.
…UK-based e-liquid manufacturer
8Bit Vape
, which allows customers to
order customized e-liquids by choos-
ing from five bottle sizes, seven nicotine
strengths and any combination of its 108
flavors, said it will stop its custom produc-
tion as of May 20 and eventually close its
business because of the TPD.
TBI
K&H attorneys Chowdhury and Dietle write it
is unclear when the bill would move through
Congress and reach the president, and it
is “very possible, if not probable,” that the
deeming regulation will be published before
H.R. 5054 becomes law.
28
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
JULY/AUGUST 2016