Topics: Tobacco

FDA Aggressively Targets, Threatens Convenience Stores over E-Cigarette Sales

In the last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken several aggressive steps that target convenience stores and other smaller format retail establishments that sell tobacco and e-cigarette and vaping products. It is part of a growing history of FDA Administrator Scott Gottlieb targeting the convenience store industry. Last year, in a televised interview on CNBC, Administrator Gottlieb specifically mentioned "truckstops" when citing stores that do not sufficiently comply with underage tobacco sales restrictions. NATSO is very troubled by such remarks and any effort to specifically target travel centers or convenience stores. More

FDA Proposes Drastic Limitation on E-Cigarette Sales

In a policy statement issued Nov. 15, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced the agency’s decision to move forward with significant restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes, flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes. More

FDA Initiates Action Targeting E-Cigarette Retailers, Manufacturers

The Food and Drug Administration has put the makers of electronic cigarettes on notice that they have sixty days to demonstrate that they can keep their devices away from minors, warning that failure to do so could resulting in flavored electronic cigarette products being removed from the market. The FDA also announced that it was sending letters to more than one thousand retailers, including convenience stores and fuel retailers -- along with issuing fines for selling e-cigarettes to minors. More

NATSO Analysis: Tobacco Policy Update

Two recent developments underscore the need for all NATSO members that sell tobacco products to ensure that they are not selling tobacco products -- including e-cigarettes and vaping products -- to minors: A recent "enforcement blitz" specifically targeting retailers of JUUL products; and the Food and Drug Administration's victory in a lawsuit allowing FDA to fine retailers for multiple violations as a result of a single inspection (which NATSO had long argued is impermissible under federal law). Together these developments underscore the need for NATSO members to have strong employee training programs in place to ensure they are complying with federal law. More

FDA Unveils New Tobacco Age-Verification Program for Retailers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this month unveiled a new age-verification program for retailers that offers training and point-of-purchase materials free of charge to encourage compliance with the agency’s rules against selling tobacco products to minors. More

Use We Card Awareness Month To Highlight Compliance

We Card Awareness Month gets underway in September, and the event is a great time for truckstop and travel plaza operators to train or re-train employees on the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations and state law compliance. More

Tobacco Update: Trump FDA Continues Aggressive Opposition to Cigarettes, More Open to E-Cigs

The first several months of the Trump Administration have brought with them no shortage of eye-catching, newsworthy headlines. Perhaps lost among the crowd, however, have been several developments on the tobacco space that NATSO members, as tobacco retailers, should understand. More

Four Steps to Preventing Underage Tobacco Sales at Your Truckstop

For all the various FDA regulations, there are many steps necessary to comply. Training employees is certainly one of them. However, FDA points out four “effective steps to prevent violations of the minimum age requirements for the sale of tobacco products.” They are: Adopting and enforcing a written policy against sales to minors; Informing its employees of all applicable laws; Establishing disciplinary sanctions for employee noncompliance; and Requiring employees to verify age by way of photographic identification or electronic scanning device. More

FDA Issues Proposed Guidance on Distributing Free Samples of Tobacco Products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products has released a proposed guidance document explaining how manufacturers, distributors, and retailers can comply with the agency’s prohibition against distributing free samples of tobacco products. Specifically, the guidance outlines the situations in which the sale of tobacco products – including e-cigarettes – to consumers at less than their full price (e.g., coupons, discounts, rewards programs, etc.) would not violate the ban. More

New FDA Regulations and Graphic Warning Labels Lawsuit

On August 8, 2016, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began restricting retailers' ability to sell additional tobacco products beyond simply cigarettes. Such products include e-cigarettes and vaping products, rather than only traditional combustible cigarettes. These products became subject to minimum purchasing age (18) requirements and associated customer age identification verification requirements, as well as marketing and advertising restrictions and a prohibition of vending machine sales of e-cigarettes. The rules also impose these restrictions on hookah, pipe tobacco, and cigars. More

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