Statement on FDA’s Proposed Rule for Foreign Tobacco Product Manufacturers

Published on June 29, 2026

WASHINGTON – June 29, 2026 – On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
announced a new rule that it claims will protect public health by “strengthening the agency’s
ability to efficiently identify illegal foreign tobacco products.” The proposed rule would require
foreign manufacturers to register their establishments and list their products with the FDA –
something U.S. manufacturers are already required to do.

While VTA is pleased to see the FDA planning new enforcement tools – which we have
advocated are needed to help distinguish good, compliant actors from bad actors – the
effectiveness of this proposal depends entirely on whether FDA implements an actual solution
to the regulatory wall that has quashed American innovation and barred authorization of less
harmful flavored ENDS products for years, thus driving illicit marketplace.

It is perplexing to see the FDA prioritizing rules proposed by the Biden Administration, such as
this one, over the establishment of a predictable, transparent, and science-based regulatory
framework under which U.S. products can be rapidly evaluated and authorized. The proposed
rule is another example of the FDA continuing to delay the urgently needed regulatory reform
that would provide certainty for responsible companies, make clear which products qualify for
authorization and which do not, and give regulators a much stronger foundation to enforce
against bad actors operating outside the rules. Until the marketplace is filled with authorized
flavored ENDS products, a rule aimed at identifying unauthorized foreign products will do little.

We hope to see the FDA shift its focus away from the policies that President Trump pledged to
roll back and urgently focus on the reforms needed to fix the broken system and provide 25
million Americans access to the less harmful flavored ENDS products that they are using to stop
smoking deadly cigarettes. We look forward to continuing to engage with them on productive
policy moving forward.

Statement attributable to Tony Abboud, Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association.

# # #