The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “Tobacco Products; Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages and Advertisements” final rule is now in effect. It has established new required health warnings for cigarette packages and advertisements.
The FDA stated that the agency intends to exercise enforcement discretion and generally not enforce requirements of the final rule for a time frame of 15 months, or until December 12, 2025.
While the final rule won’t be enforced until December 2025, retailers who create or produce their own cigarette advertisements need to submit a plan under the rule to the FDA by February 12, 2025. NACS has provided a compliance guide available for NACS members to download here.
The final rule contains 11 warnings and requires the textual warning label statements be posted with the accompanying color graphics on at least the top 50 percent of the front and rear panels of cigarette packages and at least 20 percent of the area of the advertisement.
Manufacturers, distributors, and certain retailers are required to submit to the FDA a plan to randomly and equally display and distribute the required warnings on cigarette packaging and rotate the required warnings in cigarette advertising. The FDA recommends that those entities that do not have an approved Cigarette Plan should submit their plan “as soon as possible” but no later than February 10, 2025.
NACS offers other tobacco-related resources here.