New Regulations for The Vape Industry

Last Thursday, the FDA released new regulations regarding cigars, hookah and e cigarettes. Here’s a quick low down on how the new 499 pages of rules and regulations affect the vape industry.

The most immediate affect of these new rules will be that cigars, hookah and e cigarettes will no longer be legal to sell to persons under 18. This ban will take effect in August; 90 days after these regulations were published. Mitch Zeller, head of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, stated that beefed up enforcement teams “have been preparing for day 91.”

More importantly though, e liquid producers will now have to register with the FDA, and provide the agency with a detailed account of their product’s ingredients, as well as disclose manufacturing processes and other scientific data. E liquid producers will also be subject to FDA inspections. All vape products introduced after Feb. 15 2007 will be subject to these e cigarette regulations. The e cigarette industry was more or less non-existent before 2007. These rules give the industry two years to submit applications of their products for FDA review. This review process doesn’t necessarily deicide if a product is “safe”. It is meant to determine if the product is safe, or equivalent to something else that’s already on the market.

The FDA has also disallowed e cigarettes from being marketed as “light” or “mild,” and companies will be prohibited from giving away free samples. E cigarettes will also have to carry prominent warning labels.

These regulations do not ban e cigarettes. The FDA does not have the authority to ban any tobacco-based products. These regulations do not ban candy and other sweet flavorings. Candy flavorings have been pointed to as a gambit to market nicotine to kids, and the FDA agrees with this assessment, but has put off the question of whether it will regulate these flavors more heavily. These regulations also do not ban advertising vaping products. Besides certain restrictions already addressed, all advertising channels, including TV, will be legally available to the vape industry. However, certain channels, like Google AdWords, have opted not to advertise e cigarettes.

That’s the quick version of the new e cigarette regulations. Where certain lines are drawn will become clearer as the FDA begins to take actual action under these new e cigarette regulations. We’ll be following this story as it progresses, so check back with this blog for more information.