Category: News This Week

Agencies Want Closer Tracking of Imports

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Department of the Treasury have announced a proposed rule that would require an importer to submit the FDA-issued Submission Tracking Number (STN) of electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products into the electronic imports system operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The new requirement will help streamline the process of reviewing the admissibility of ENDS products into the United States, according to the FDA’s website.
After an applicant submits a marketing application for a new tobacco product, FDA assigns a unique identifier called an STN. Under the proposed rule, if finalized, any ENDS product, including e-cigarettes, for which the STN is not submitted may be denied entry into the U.S.
An FDA-issued STN is one data element that is important to FDA’s admissibility review and determination, which also includes review of other information about the product as well as possible sampling and examination of the product, according to the agency.
“Beginning tomorrow, the docket for the proposed rule, titled ‘Submission of Food and Drug Administration Import Data in the Automated Commercial Environment for Certain Tobacco Products,’ will be open for public comment through October 15, 2024.
Visit the rulemaking docket at regulations.gov to learn more and comment on the proposed rule.”Beginning tomorrow, the docket for the proposed rule … will be open for public comment through October 15, 2024.
Visit the rulemaking docket at regulations.gov to learn more and comment on the proposed rule.
August 15, 2024
Virginia Commission Mulls Grant Requests

Photo: Sarah Vogelsong | Virginia Mercury
Virginia’s Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission has $12 million to spend on energy projects as part of a legislative mandate to revitalize the economies of two regions that are no longer receiving economic benefits from the tobacco industry, reports Virginia Mercury.
The Energy Ingenuity Committee, at the commission’s last meeting, discussed applications it received for two rounds of the funds that opened this year. A third round of funds is expected to open following the commission’s next meeting scheduled for September.
“We rolled it out earlier this year,” said Jerry Silva, director of regional energy development and innovation for the commission. “We really did not know what the application level would be.”
The Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission was formed in 1999 with 28 legislative and citizen members representing Southside and Southwest Virginia. The commission allocates funds from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, which was the beginning of the demise of the tobacco industry’s footprint in the two regions.
The Energy Ingenuity Fund was recently created by the commission to help increase economic activity surrounding energy development projects. The fund allocated $6 million to each of the two regions and solicited energy development projects.
To apply for the grants, applicants must be a government entity or nonprofit, have one-for-one matching funds and identify the number of jobs that could be created by the project. Private companies can apply for the grants as long as they partner with a locality to create economic incentives.
There is a pre-application phase where applicants present ideas to Silva on what the funds could go toward before staff determine what needs more information and what can be submitted as a full application. Silva received 17 pre-applications in round one, with three moving forward to a full vote in May. Round two saw 11 pre-applications, with four expected to move to a vote in September.
“These are projects that we’re trying to help bridge opportunities that would normally not be opportunities unless we helped them,” Silva said. “We’re trying to make sure we’re the best stewards of the commission’s money and dollars. We want to fund viable projects.”
August 15, 2024
Tanzania Tobacco Exports Hit $438 Million

Image: Tobacco Reporter archive
Tanzania’s tobacco export value has hit $438.5 million, more than double the previous year, according to data from the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and Bank of Tanzania (BoT), reports The Guardian.
The government’s target was $400 million.
Tobacco exports have now surpassed coffee and cashews as the leading traditional export earning commercial crop. Tobacco is currently produced under contract.
The value increase is a result of a crop production increase to 122 million kg as well as an increase in commodity price in the world market.
Tanzania is now the second largest producer of tobacco in Africa following Zimbabwe.
For the 2024/2025 season, Tanzania aims to produce 200,000 tons of tobacco, and for the 2025/2026 season, the country aims to produce 300,000 tons.
The goal is to increase export earnings to between $600 million and $700 million annually, according to Hussein Bashe, the minister of agriculture.
According to Bashe, more than 50 percent of tobacco was bought and sold abroad by local companies, marking a first for the country.
Statista projections show Tanzania’s tobacco products market generating $644.9 million in revenue in 2024.
August 14, 2024
Brazilian Tobacco Suitable to Ship to China

Image: SindiTabaco
On Aug. 9, the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco) hosted a meeting to formalize the closure of the tobacco pre-inspection procedure for the 2023/2024 crop year, one of the requirements of the bilateral trade protocol between Brazil and China. The meeting was held in hybrid format, with the virtual presence of the technicians from the General Administration of Customs China (GACC) and the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA) and of the National Organization for Brazilian Phytosanitary Protection (ONPF), Pedro Carneiro Abreu.
Other authorities from Brazil and China attended the event as well.
“This is a primordial moment for compliance with the protocol. The samples were collected in a very effective manner, and it is with great satisfaction that I inform you that no pests were detected in the collected samples. This once again corroborates the quality of the Brazilian tobacco. China is one of our largest importers of tobacco, and this partnership plays a fundamental role for the continuity of the businesses between the two countries. We are sure that we will continue making strides in this relation,” commented Abreu from MAPA Brasilia.
“Our participation consists in representing this commitment, which is also shared by minister Carlos Favaro, besides acknowledging this activity as relevant for the entire country. In our understanding, this expresses our responsibility with regard to the Chinese inspection organs,” said Jose Cleber de Souza, superintendent at MAPA RS.
The MAPA was in charge of collecting the processed tobacco samples and sending them to the Central Analytical Laboratory of the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC) for laboratory tests that confirm the phytosanitary status of the product prior to shipment. Roque Danieli, tax auditor and head of MAPA’s Plant Health and Inputs Inspection Service in RS, presented details about the pre-inspection activities.
“During these 23 days in which we worked jointly with the GACC representatives, in virtual format, it was possible to attest to the quality of the 2023/2024 crop and demonstrate that, at field level, the 2024/[20]25 crop is now under cultivation with all the necessary cares in compliance with the requisites set forth on the protocol. The integrated production system gets the credit for the fact that tobacco is the commercial crop that uses the least amount of pesticides at field level, a result of the constant work of the farm extension agents. We hope that the presentation of the works is cause for satisfaction, and next week, we shall send the final report to Brasilia to be forwarded to the GACC,” Danieli said.
Zhang Nan Zhengrong, Leader of the China Leaf Company Delegation, presented the pre-inspection report to the attendees of the meeting jointly with the technician responsible for the Central Analytical Laboratory of UNISC, professor Adriana Dupont Schneider. She gave details of the analyses.
“This year, we analyzed a total of 54 lots with samples collected in eight companies. The laboratory activities took 24 days, and they certified the phytosanitary safety with regard to the nine quarantine pests set forth in the agreement, of which, six are types of insects, two weeds and the fungus known as blue mold. All the results were negative for the pests included in China-Brazil trade protocol,” said Schneider.
“Tobacco is an agricultural crop that suffers harsh criticism but has been vigorously defended by the MAPA,” said SindiTabaco President Iro Schuenke. “This has a lot to do with the social and economic importance of the crop for our country, especially for the South Region. China is our second-largest importer, coming only after Belgium, and every year purchases big amounts of our tobacco. And this is the moment for a special mention of the farmers that cultivate tobacco in Brazil who, along with the farm extension agents, have performed all the necessary works for our compliance with the necessary requisites that have kept Brazil as top leaf exporter over the past 30 years.”
August 14, 2024
Airbox Fined for Illegal ‘Distance Selling’

Image: Talaj
Airbox of Slovakia has been fined HUF189 million ($527,283) for illegally selling electronic nicotine delivery devices online in Hungary, reports the Daily News Hungary. The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has blocked the company’s website.
The GVH started proceedings against Airbox in February after it found that the company was likely misleading customers on its Hungarian-language website about the legality of its products in Hungary.
Hungary law prohibits the online marketing and distance selling of flavored tobacco products and electronic smoking devices. The GVH found that Airbox had engaged in unfair commercial practices.
Earlier, the GVH acted against two Slovak companies for illegally selling Elf Bar and other vaping products in Hungary.
August 13, 2024
New Zealand and Sweden Lauded for THR
We Are Innovation (WAI) released a video about Sweden and New Zealand reducing smoking rates through the consistent use of innovative alternatives. Titled “Smoke-Free Success: Sweden and New Zealand’s Experiences,” it highlights the role of safer nicotine products in decreasing smoking-related deaths and diseases.
As WAI explains on its website, Sweden’s pragmatic approach to smoking reduction has been heralded as a global model. Historically, Sweden has had a significant population using snus, a smokeless tobacco product. This cultural acceptance of the product laid the groundwork for the introduction of oral nicotine pouches, providing smokers with safer alternatives to cigarettes.
According to Anders Milton, former chair of the World Medical Association, 17 percent of Swedish men use snus daily while only 5.6 percent of Swedish men—the lowest rate globally—smoke. Sweden also boasts the lowest incidence of lung cancer in the European Union.
In New Zealand, the legalization of vaping has led to a significant decline in smoking rates, dropping from 16 percent to 6.8 percent over eight years, according to WAI. This progress, the group says, positions New Zealand to achieve its smoke-free target by 2025.
Marewa Glover, a behavioral scientist with over 31 years of experience in public health, believes that vaping has been transformative. According to her, it offers smokers a less harmful option and substantially reduces smoking rates.
WAI contrasts the approach of Sweden and New Zealand to that of Australia, where restrictive policies on vaping have hindered anti-smoking efforts, according to the organization. Critics point out that ideological objections and vested interests have slowed progress toward harm reduction, with some groups favoring an abstinence-only approach rather than adopting alternative solutions like vaping. The abstinence-only approach does not work for everyone, and since cigarettes bring in a lot of tax, there are vested interests that benefit from that, according to WAI.
August 13, 2024
Tobacco Firms Settle MSA Dispute

Image: mehaniq41
Tobacco companies will pay Massachusetts hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a dispute about how much the cigarette manufacturers owe the state.
The deal ends a dispute stemming from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in which tobacco companies agreed to pay states billions of dollars each year to offset medical expenses stemming from smoking.
Claiming that some MSA signatories withheld “substantial funds,” the Massachusetts attorney general’s office sent disputes over hundreds of millions of dollars into arbitration.
Monday’s announced deal resolves seven of those past disputes for 2005 through 2011, the office said, and will result in $600 million being paid to the commonwealth this year and “tens of millions” each year going forward.
“The country’s major tobacco manufacturers have pushed smoking products to young people for decades—and this settlement is evidence of our ongoing commitment to hold these companies accountable for their actions that caused irreparable harm to public health and safety,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in a statement.
August 13, 2024
Data Shows Potential of Vaping for Cessation

Photo: Teo
New data from Action on Smoking and Health U.K. (ASH U.K.) found more than half of ex-smokers in Great Britain who quit in the past five years—amounting to 2.7 million adults—used a vape in their last quit attempt.
Further, it revealed the main motivations for vaping among current smokers included “cutting down on smoking,” “protect[ing] others from the risk of secondhand smoke” or “to help them quit.”
ASH U.K. also reported that misperceptions around vaping are at an all-time high, with 50 percent of smokers wrongly believing vaping to be as or more harmful when compared with smoking.
The new data also found that while current and ever use of vaping among young people has decreased between 2023 and 2024, under 18s are still accessing these age-gated products.
“The latest figures from ASH U.K. once again highlight the stop-smoking credentials of vaping for adults and reinforce the instrumental role these products have and must continue to play in stubbing out the health burden of smoking for good,” said U.K. Vaping Industry Association Director General John Dunne in a statement.
“That said, if vaping is to reach its full potential in supporting the smoke-free ambition, action must be taken to address growing misperceptions about the less harmful alternative, which are no doubt being exacerbated by mainstream media scare stories and some mixed messaging in the public health sphere. This could be achieved through the introduction of national public education campaigns, which arm adults with the best, science-backed information to help them quit.”
August 13, 2024
‘Excessive Tax Hike Could Spur Illicit Trade’

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Indonesia’s above-inflation tax hike could fuel illicit trade and depress government revenue collections, according to Apindo, a leading employers association, reports Tempo.
To discourage smoking, the government last year approved a 10 percent increase in excise taxes on cigarettes for 2023–2024.
Despite the tax hike, the number of cigarette factories has increased significantly in Indonesia. Data from the Directorate General of Customs and Excise revealed a surge from 1,214 factories in early 2022 to 1,723 factories in June 2024.
Meanwhile, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported a 28.62 percent smoking rate among Indonesians aged 15 and above in 2023. The largest number of smokers was reportedly in the 35–39 age group at 35.21 percent while the youth group (15–19 years) had a rate of 9.62 percent. The Health Ministry’s 2023 Indonesian Health Survey found 70 million active smokers, including 7.4 percent aged 10–18 years.
August 12, 2024
Officials Draw Fire Over Tobacco Donations

Image: nosyrevy/Carsten Reisinger
The Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has drawn fire for allegedly accepting donations from Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC), reports The Inquirer.
According to critics, PMFTC donated three mobile clinics to the agency earlier this year for use in social welfare and disaster response operations.
In a statement released Aug. 9, the advocacy group Parents Against Vape said the “acceptance and promotion” of the tobacco industry by government officials “raised serious ethical, legal and health-related issues.”
“The actions of these government officials and the accompanying display of support could be construed as a blatant endorsement of an industry that is known for its detrimental health effects and are deeply troubling for several reasons,” said Parents Against Vape President Rebie Relator.
The group called for “a thorough investigation” into the action of the officials of government agencies involved, saying it violated several laws and policies.
In February this year, the DSWD’s legal service recommended declining the PMFTC donation, prompting Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian to ask the legal opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in May.
On June 6, the DOJ said it would be OK to accept the donations. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla maintained that the Civil Service Commission and Department of Health rules on donations cover only officials and employees and do not extend to government agencies and offices in general.
Nonetheless, several former government officials criticized the DOJ and DSWD’s acceptance of tobacco donations, arguing that the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to which the Philippines is a signatory, forbids government officials and employees from soliciting or accepting gifts, favors or donations from tobacco-related entities.
“Civil service rules could not distinguish the agency actions from the actions of its officers or employees,” said Civil Service Commissioner Mary Ann Fernandez Mendoza. “Otherwise, who will be made accountable for violation of civil service rules if we accept the [DOJ] interpretation? It goes against the principle that public office is a public trust.”
August 12, 2024