Tag: legislation

  • North Carolina Tweaks Rules for Cigar Bars

    North Carolina Tweaks Rules for Cigar Bars

    A last-minute addition to a bill related to alcohol sales in North Carolina should expand the number of cigar bars in the state.

    Governor Roy Cooper signed S.B. 527, a bill related to the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The bill includes text that critics say will make owning or operating a cigar bar in North Carolina much easier, according to media reports.

    While the state already allows for cigar bars—places that allow for cigar smoking and serve liquor—previously, those businesses were required to be the only entity located in standalone buildings. With the rules change, only if a cigar bar serves food must it be located in a standalone building.

    This will greatly increase the number of locations where a cigar bar could be located, likely meaning that many existing cigar stores may be eligible to become cigar bars.

    The headline change of the bill is that it allows for to-go cocktails.

  • U.S. Fourth Circuit Denies PMTA Appeal

    U.S. Fourth Circuit Denies PMTA Appeal

    The Fourth Circuit on Monday dismissed an appeal from various vaping groups challenging a compliance deadline for vapor products. The decision states that January directives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have rendered the appeal moot.

    In a per curiam opinion, the appellate judges held that guidance issued by the FDA in January moots the vape groups’ appeal because that guidance supersedes older directives from August 2017 at issue in the appeal and leaves “no possible meaningful relief” that the court could grant, according to law360.com.

    “Any ruling by this court as to the procedural or substantive reasonableness of the August 2017 guidance would amount to nothing more than an advisory opinion,” the court said.

    The appeal stems from a Maryland district court ruling that ordered the agency to set a May 2020 deadline for premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) on smokeless tobacco products. The FDA, along with various health and anti-vaping groups, had argued that the January guidance restricting the sale of flavored, cartridge-based vapes rendered moot the vape groups’ appeal.

    “Because the enforcement timetable for e-cigarettes set out in the January 2020 guidance is independent of the district court’s order, an order by this court reversing the district court would have no effect on FDA’s enforcement of the statute and regulations against e-cigarette manufacturers,” the agency had previously said.

    But the vape groups disagreed, saying the January guidance was enacted without proper notice-and-comment procedures, according to the opinion.

    While the court said it can’t offer the vape groups relief in this case, the panel added in a footnote that the groups can challenge the January guidance in a separate action in federal court. The panel also ruled that a Maryland district court did not abuse its discretion in denying cigar industry groups’ motion to intervene, saying those groups did not intervene in a timely manner.

    Counsel for the cigar and vape groups and a representative of the FDA did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

    Last month, a Maryland federal judge said that in light of the coronavirus pandemic, he would grant a 120-day extension to the May 12 deadline for e-cigarette PMTAs, which have proceeded slowly since the FDA first determined vapes should be regulated like tobacco products. The new deadline is Sept. 9, 2020.

    The FDA had previously asked the Fourth Circuit for approval for the lower court to extend the May deadline, saying it would not affect the merits of the appeal brought by the industry groups. The FDA said many of the laboratories and research organizations conducting the clinical trials for the regulatory applications have shut down or otherwise halted in-person testing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Public health groups previously sought to accelerate the FDA’s regulation of vaping products under the Tobacco Control Act, citing vaping-related lung injuries that sickened thousands of people and left nearly 70 dead in 2019. In July 2019, a Maryland district judge effectively allowed the FDA to set the May 2020 deadline, prompting the vape groups to claim the decision was an arbitrary overextension of both the FDA and the court’s authority.

    The vape groups had also argued that the May deadline left too little time for manufacturers to file complete applications. Cigar industry groups that filed joint briefs on appeal argued that the district court’s order on deadlines unfairly ensnared cigar and pipe tobacco manufacturers as well.

  • Report calls for regulation of vapor products

    The Canadian House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Health has released a report asking the federal government to establish new legislative framework for the regulation of vapor products.

    The report, titled “Vaping: Towards A regulatory framework for e-cigarettes,” includes provisions to regulate e-liquid content; prohibit e-liquid flavorings that are “specifically designed to appeal to youth”; require child-resistant packaging for e-cigarettes and refill containers; ban the use of vapor products in public places where use of traditional cigarettes is already banned; restrict advertising and promotion of vapor products; and prohibit the sale of vapor products to anyone under the age of 18.

    Health Canada indicated that it would respond to the proposed regulation in “due course,” but no specific timeframe regarding its implementation was given.

  • B.C. restricts use and sale of e-cigarettes

    British Columbia, Canada, will ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors and prohibit e-cigarette use in buildings throughout the province by the end of 2015. The crackdown on vapor products is intended primarily to prevent minors from being exposed to such products and the unknown health effects they may have on users in the long term, according to Health Minister Terry Lake.

    The new legislation bans the use of e-cigarettes inside all public buildings where traditional cigarette use is currently banned, including restaurants, bars, coffee shops, workplaces, hospitals, schools and movie theaters. The ban also covers vaping on all public and school properties, although health authorities are permitted to set aside specific areas for vaping as they have in the past for traditional smoking. Whether the use of e-cigarettes in parks is permitted will be determined by bylaws passed by local municipalities.

    Vapers caught using e-cigarettes in restricted locations could face fines ranging from $58 to $575, while those caught selling e-cigarettes to minors risk a $575 fine.

    The legislation also forbids businesses that sell e-cigarettes to advertise such products to youth, and those business that are caught selling e-cigarettes improperly could face administrative sanctions of up to $5,000.