Submission of Plans for Cigarette Packages and Cigarette Advertisements (Revised); Guidance for Industry; Availability

Published date29 May 2020
Citation85 FR 32401
Record Number2020-11463
SectionNotices
CourtFood And Drug Administration
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 104 (Friday, May 29, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 104 (Friday, May 29, 2020)]
                [Notices]
                [Pages 32401-32403]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2020-11463]
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                DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
                Food and Drug Administration
                [Docket No. FDA-2019-D-5364]
                Submission of Plans for Cigarette Packages and Cigarette
                Advertisements (Revised); Guidance for Industry; Availability
                AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
                ACTION: Notice of availability.
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                SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing
                the availability of a revised guidance for industry entitled
                ``Submission of Plans for Cigarette Packages and Cigarette
                Advertisements (Revised).'' This is a revision to the first edition of
                this final guidance, which issued in March 2020, and is intended to
                assist those required to submit cigarette plans for cigarette packages
                and cigarette advertisements by providing content, timing, and other
                recommendations related to those submissions. FDA is revising this
                guidance to reflect the May 8, 2020, court order that postponed, by 120
                days, the effective date of the final rule, entitled ``Tobacco
                Products; Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages and
                Advertisements.'' Pursuant to the court order, this revised guidance
                strongly encourages entities to submit cigarette plans to FDA as soon
                as possible after publication of the final rule, and in any event
                within 5 months and 120 days after the date of publication of the final
                rule (i.e., by December 16, 2020).
                DATES: The announcement of the revised guidance is published in the
                Federal Register on May 29, 2020.
                ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on any guidance at any time as
                follows:
                Electronic Submissions
                 Submit electronic comments in the following way:
                 Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
                Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted
                electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov
                will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be
                made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment
                does not include any confidential information that you or a third party
                may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone
                else's Social Security number, or confidential business information,
                such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your
                name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in
                the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
                 If you want to submit a comment with confidential
                information that you do not wish to be made available to the public,
                submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner
                detailed (see ``Written/Paper Submissions'' and ``Instructions'').
                Written/Paper Submissions
                 Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
                 Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for written/paper
                submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug
                Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
                 For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets
                Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any
                attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified,
                as confidential, if submitted as detailed in ``Instructions.''
                 Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No.
                FDA-2019-D-5364 for ``Submission of Plans
                [[Page 32402]]
                for Cigarette Packages and Cigarette Advertisements (Revised).''
                Received comments will be placed in the docket and, except for those
                submitted as ``Confidential Submissions,'' publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff office between
                9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
                 Confidential Submissions--To submit a comment with
                confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly
                available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You
                should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information
                you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states
                ``THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.'' The Agency will
                review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in
                its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the
                claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be
                available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
                Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish
                your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you
                can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of
                your comments and you must identify this information as
                ``confidential.'' Any information marked as ``confidential'' will not
                be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other
                applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of
                comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or
                access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.
                 Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
                the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in
                the heading of this document, into the ``Search'' box and follow the
                prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane,
                Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.
                 You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR
                10.115(g)(5)).
                 Submit written requests for single copies of this guidance to the
                Center for Tobacco Products, Food and Drug Administration, Document
                Control Center, Bldg. 71, Rm. G335, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Silver
                Spring, MD 20993-0002. Send one self-addressed adhesive label to assist
                that office in processing your request or include a fax number to which
                the guidance may be sent. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for
                information on electronic access to the guidance.
                FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lauren Belcher or Courtney Smith,
                Center for Tobacco Products, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New
                Hampshire Ave., Document Control Center, Bldg. 71, Rm. G335, 10903 New
                Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 1-877-287-1373, email:
                [email protected].
                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
                I. Background
                 FDA is announcing the availability of a revised guidance for
                industry entitled ``Submission of Plans for Cigarette Packages and
                Cigarette Advertisements (Revised).''
                 The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco
                Control Act) (Pub. L. 111-31) was enacted on June 22, 2009, and granted
                FDA important new authority to regulate the manufacture, marketing, and
                distribution of tobacco products. The Tobacco Control Act also amended
                section 4 of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (FCLAA)
                to direct FDA to issue regulations requiring each cigarette package and
                advertisement to bear a new textual warning label statement accompanied
                by color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking
                (section 201 of the Tobacco Control Act). In enacting this legislation,
                Congress also provided that FDA may adjust the required warnings if FDA
                found that such a change would promote greater public understanding of
                the risks associated with the use of tobacco products (section 202 of
                the Tobacco Control Act). The Tobacco Control Act also modified the
                requirements of the FCLAA regarding the submission of cigarette plans
                for the random and equal display and distribution of required warnings
                on cigarette packages and quarterly rotation of required warnings in
                cigarette advertisements. It also requires that such cigarette plans be
                submitted to FDA for review and approval, rather than to the Federal
                Trade Commission.
                 In the Federal Register of March 18, 2020, FDA issued a rule
                entitled ``Tobacco Products; Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages
                and Advertisements'' (85 FR 15638). The rule specifies the color
                graphics that must accompany the new textual warning label statements
                and establishes marketing requirements for cigarette packages and
                advertisements. The marketing requirements include, among other things,
                submission of a cigarette plan that provides for the random and equal
                display and distribution of the required warnings on cigarette packages
                and quarterly rotation of the required warnings in cigarette
                advertisements, as described under section 4 of FCLAA.
                 On April 3, 2020, the final rule was challenged in the U.S.
                District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.\1\ Due to the COVID-
                19 pandemic and its impacts, on May 8, 2020, the court granted a joint
                motion to govern proceedings in that case and postpone the effective
                date of the final rule by 120 days.\2\ The new effective date of the
                final rule is October 16, 2021. Pursuant to the court order, any
                obligation to comply with a deadline tied to the effective date of the
                rule is similarly postponed, and those obligations and deadlines are
                now tied to the postponed effective date. As such, this revised
                guidance strongly encourages entities to submit cigarette plans to FDA
                as soon as possible after publication of the final rule, and in any
                event within 5 months and 120 days after the date of publication of the
                final rule (i.e., by December 16, 2020).
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                 \1\ R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. et al. v. United States Food and
                Drug Administration et al., No. 6:20-cv-00176 (E.D. Tex. filed April
                3, 2020).
                 \2\ R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. et al., No. 6:20-cv-00176 (E.D.
                Tex. May 8, 2020) (order granting joint motion and establishing
                schedule), Doc. No. 33.
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                II. Significance of Guidance
                 FDA is issuing this guidance consistent with FDA's good guidance
                practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115). The guidance represents the
                current thinking of FDA regarding the submission of plans for cigarette
                packages and cigarette advertisements. It does not establish any rights
                for any person and is not binding on FDA or the public. You can use an
                alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable
                statutes and regulations.
                III. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
                 This guidance refers to previously approved FDA collections of
                information. These collections of information are subject to review by
                the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction
                Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521). The collections of information in 21
                CFR 1141.10 have been approved under 0910-0877.
                IV. Electronic Access
                 Persons with access to the internet may obtain an electronic
                version of the guidance at either https://www.regulations.gov or
                https://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/
                [[Page 32403]]
                GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/default.htm.
                 Dated: May 22, 2020.
                Lowell J. Schiller,
                Principal Associate Commissioner for Policy.
                [FR Doc. 2020-11463 Filed 5-28-20; 8:45 am]
                 BILLING CODE 4164-01-P
                

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