Resolution on Directory Enforcement

Model Bill Info
Bill Title	Resolution on Directory Enforcement
Date Introduced	November 29, 2023
Date Finalized	December 22, 2023
Type	Model Resolution
Status	Final
Task Forces	Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development; Federalism and International Relations

Resolution on Directory Enforcement

Urging the States to Enforce Against Illicit and Non-Compliant Nicotine Vapor Products, Particularly from China, That are Defying Federal Law and Putting Kids and Adults at Risk

WHEREAS, the United States has provided the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with regulatory authority over nicotine vapor products, with scientific product reviews, facility inspections, ingredients regulation, and other forms of Agency oversight; and

WHEREAS, since 2020 the U.S. has been flooded with vapor products primarily from companies based in China that have defied FDA regulation, including, among other things, failing to submit timely science-based applications for FDA to review; and

WHEREAS, a large portion of these products are marketed and sold under license from the state-owned China Tobacco Monopoly; and

WHEREAS, many of the product formulations exported by these Chinese manufacturers are not in compliance with Chinese domestic sales restrictions outlined in Standard GB 41700-2022, and under China’s “Management Rules for E-cigarettes” should not be exported to foreign markets unless they are in compliance with destination country regulations; and

WHEREAS, these non-compliant manufacturers are operating without active FDA oversight, including facility inspections, and are making domestic distributors and retailers complicit in the sale and distribution of non-compliant product, resulting in the FDA taking action to levy fines and penalties against in-state businesses; and

WHEREAS, the FDA has not publicly released a list of products currently under FDA review that are allowed to remain in market under FDA discretion, despite requests from legitimate domestic manufacturers, distributors, and retailers; and

WHEREAS, states do not have independent authority to enforce the FDA Act; and

WHEREAS, these flavored disposable e-vapor products are contributing significantly to underage e-vapor use, which increased in 2022 according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey; and

WHEREAS, all states require each cigarette product available for lawful sale in a state to be listed in a public directory enforced by the state; and

WHEREAS, the states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Oklahoma have recently enacted laws requiring nicotine vapor suppliers, under penalty of state enforcement, to only distribute and sell compliant nicotine vapor products listed in a public directory developed and enforced by the state; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the legislature of the state of (INSERT STATE), that it establishes a state law to require all nicotine vapor manufacturers to certify that each product they sell into (INSERT STATE) is in compliance with Federal law for the purpose of creating a public directory of those products allowed to be sold in (INSERT STATE);

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that (INSERT STATE) shall take enforcement action against non-compliant manufacturers, and complicit distributors and retailers of such non-compliant products, in order to ensure e-vapor products sold in the state are in compliance with the law of (INSERT STATE).