A Texas Federal Court Postpones The FDA’s Cigarette Health Warning Deadline

Source from:  Vapingpost 12/11/2020

A judge at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a motion of delay to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. et al. v. the United States Food and Drug Administration et al., by an additional 90 days.

The court handed down the motion to the plaintiffs on December 2, 2020.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the new effective date of the final rule is now January 14, 2020.
“Pursuant to the court order, any obligation to comply with a deadline tied to the effective date is similarly postponed,” states a disclosure found on the FDA’s informational webpage on cigarette labeling and health warnings. The FDA “strongly encourages entities to submit cigarette plans…as soon as possible, and in any event by March 16, 2021.”

R.J. Reynolds, along with other U.S. cigarette manufacturers and retailers, filed the initial lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas back in April in a bid to further invalidate the FDA’s rule to mandate new warning labeling, which was ordered by Congress in prior legislation.

Philip Morris USA, Sherman Group Holdings, Altria Group, and others filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Washington, D.C. against the FDA asking for the same policy resolution.

Considering the nature of case-law, the Texas decision could further impact decisions for other lawsuits like the Philip Morris USA et al case in the District of Columbia.