BAT estimated last year that unauthorized disposable vapes account for around 70% of almost $12.93 billion worth of U.S. vape sales annually. U.S. authorities have said these unauthorized vapes, including products made by Chinese firms, are illegal to import into the U.S. or sell there.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been criticized by companies and some lawmakers for slow product authorizations and for failing to address the widespread trade in unauthorized products, said Reuters. The FDA has so far authorized only 34 tobacco and menthol-flavored vape products for sale.
“Regulatory confusion has resulted in a vape market in which illicit products from China proliferate,” said Anna Ready Blom of NACS. “For years, responsible sellers have begged the Center for Tobacco Products for regulatory clarity, but they have refused to provide it. We hope the new administration will make final decisions on the legality of all vape products and provide full and transparent information to the industry so that market participants can make responsible decisions.” BAT’s U.S. subsidiary Reynolds American wrote to the Office of the United States Trade Representative on March 11 to call for the government “to ban imports of all disposable vapes from China and consider additional tariffs on any other Chinese-made e-cigarettes and smoking alternatives.”
“The Chinese companies’ unfair and illegal trading practices harm Reynolds and other law-abiding U.S. companies,” Reynolds wrote in the letter, published by the USTR.
Reynolds said there was an “urgent need” to revisit how new products come to market, but it embraces FDA action to review and authorize them.
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