The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) has filed an association-wide warning plan for cigar advertising with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), allowing retailers to elect into the IPCPR’s plan in order to stay in compliance with FDA’s new requirements. The IPCPR’s warning plan has the FDA’s approval and makes it easy for retailers who don’t have FDA-approved plans to stay in compliance with the deeming rule and continue to sell premium cigars without interruption.
“The IPCPR warning plan includes a simplified, single quarterly rotation schedule that applies to advertisements for ‘all brands’ of cigars,” the IPCPR explained in a press release. “This is unique to the IPCPR warning plan and significantly eases the burden of compliance for retailers. The IPCPR warning plan also covers all forms of advertising that retailers may wish to use, describing for each category how the retailer will determine which warning statement to include in an advertisement.”
As part of the deeming rules, retailers that sell individual cigars and without packaging must display point of sales (POS) signs with the six FDA-approved cigar warnings at the register. The IPCPR has created two compliant templates that retailers can download and print for use in their stores. The FDA’s new requirement goes into effect on Aug. 10, 2018, the same time that cigar manufacturers will be required to include warning labels on all cigar packaging and advertising. While retailers can come up with their own warning plans, they will need to make sure the warning labels they use are in compliance and that they have the FDA’s approval. If you did not file a warning plan with the FDA by the FDA’s Aug. 10, 2017 submission deadline for review, your safest bet will be to use the one created by the IPCPR.
