Starting Sept 30, tobacco retailers must verify the age of anyone under 30, while vending machine sales will be restricted to 21-and-older facilities.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Stricter Age Verification: Starting Sept 30, tobacco retailers must verify the age of anyone under 30 who attempts to purchase tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, as part of the FDA’s final rule aimed at reducing underage sales.
- Expanded Vending Machine Restrictions: The FDA’s new rule also prohibits the sale of tobacco products through vending machines in any facility where individuals under 21 are permitted.
- Public Health Impact: These updated regulations are intended to enhance the effectiveness of the 2019 legislation that raised the federal minimum age for tobacco sales to 21, further protecting youth from the health risks associated with tobacco use.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a final rule that raises the minimum age for certain restrictions on tobacco product sales.
These requirements are in line with legislation signed in December 2019 that immediately raised the federal minimum age of sale of tobacco products in the United States from 18 to 21 years of age. Once implemented, the FDA expects the requirements will help decrease underage tobacco sales.
Beginning Sept 30, retailers must verify with photo identification the age of anyone under the age of 30 who is trying to purchase tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Previously, this requirement applied to anyone under the age of 27. The FDA says it is “important for retailers to request and examine photo IDs to verify age from anyone under 30, regardless of appearance, as research has shown that it is difficult for retailers to accurately determine the age of a customer from appearance alone.”
Additionally, starting Sept 30, retailers may not sell tobacco products via vending machines in facilities where individuals under 21 are present or permitted to enter at any time. Previously, this prohibition applied to facilities where individuals under 18 were present or permitted to enter at any time. These, and the other changes made by the final rule, aim to maximize the public health impact of the original December 2019 legislation, according to the FDA.
“Today’s rule is another key step toward protecting our nation’s youth from the health risks of tobacco products,” says Brian King, PhD, MPH, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, in a release. “Decades of science have shown that keeping tobacco products away from youth is critical to reducing the number of people who ultimately become addicted to these products and suffer from tobacco-related disease and death.”
Building on the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act
The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law on Dec 20, 2019, increased the federal minimum age for the sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 across the United States. Since then, it has been illegal to sell tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to anyone under 21 years of age. The law also directed the FDA to take this latest action, increasing the age of certain requirements for tobacco product sales.
According to the FDA, more than 95% of US adults who smoke daily smoked their first cigarette by the age of 21.
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