28
TOBACCO BUSINESS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
Will 2014 be the year cigars become FDA-regulated?
I
n late October, the Cigar
Association of America (CAA)
issued an industry alert: deeming
regulation for cigars was on the move.
The CAA confirmed that a deeming
regulation that affects all tobacco
products (including cigars) moved
from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services to the White
House Office of Management and
Budget (OMB).
“The content of the deeming
regulation is unknown, but this
movement is evidence that the
regulation is progressing forward,”
the association reported. It stated
that it would continue to monitor the
situation closely, as well as continue to
work with the federal government “to
ensure that the concerns of the cigar
industry are noted and understood.”
Tobacco Business
checked in with
Craig Williamson, president and
CEO of CAA, to find out what that
meant exactly, and how big of an
industry concern it was.
“The No. 1 issue on our screen is
absolutely being regulated by the FDA
(Food and Drug Administration),”
Williamson confirms. “We always
believed we would be regulated some
day; we would love to be able to say
to the FDA, ‘don’t regulate us,’ but we
know they already have the authority
and will take it, sooner rather than
later now.”
As a refresher, in 2009 President
Obama signed into law the Family
Smoking Prevention and Tobacco
Control Act, which required the
FDA to regulate
cigarettes. The bill
also authorized the
FDA to regulate
other types of
tobacco, but didn’t
require
such
regulation. Now,
however, it looks as if the FDA may
exercise that regulatory authority.
Educating from
fiEld to ShElf
From the CAA’s perspective, the
question becomes how cigars will
be regulated—or more accurately, to
what extent, which is where the CAA’s
knowledge and intervention comes in.
During the past two years, the CAA
has held seven government meetings
Staying Alert
for Regulation
By Renee M. Covino
Craig Williamson
