TOB Magazine

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:

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;

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;

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”;

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;

Manufacturers are required to report

electronically on ingredients in all their

products sold in the EU;

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;

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;

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;

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.

TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

JULY/AUGUST 2016