The Biden Administration’s plan to cut back the amount of nicotine in cigarettes took another step forward.
“The proposed rule, Tobacco Product Standard for Nicotine Level of Certain Tobacco Products, is displaying in the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) ROCIS [Regulatory Information Service Center] system as having completed regulatory review on Jan. 3,” FDA Spokesperson Jim McKinney confirmed with CSP.
“As the FDA has previously said, a proposed product standard to establish a maximum nicotine level to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes and certain other combusted tobacco products, when finalized, is estimated to be among the most impactful population-level actions in the history of U.S. tobacco product regulation,” he said, adding that the FDA would not provide any further comment until it is published.
The proposed rule was entered Dec. 10, into the OMB’s ROCIS system, which is part of the standard OMB review of regulatory documents.
These next regulatory steps don’t mean there would be immediate changes, though. The OMB's approval process generally takes months and involves a public comment period. It's also unclear how President-elect Donald Trump would handle the proposal.
During his presidency, Trump signed legislation amending the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and raised the federal minimum age for sale of tobacco products, including vaping devices from 18 to 21 years.
The Biden administration included the initiative in its latest Unified Agenda, a document released twice a year that describes each federal agency’s upcoming regulatory actions.
Interested in learning more about the tobacco category? Register or sponsor CSP’s Convenience Retailing University here.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.