2017-19928. Registration and Product Listing for Owners and Operators of Domestic Tobacco Product Establishments; Guidance for Industry; Availability

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice of availability.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a revised guidance for industry entitled “Registration and Product Listing for Owners and Operators of Domestic Tobacco Product Establishments.” This guidance is intended to assist persons making tobacco product establishment registration and product listing submissions to FDA.

DATES:

The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal Register on September 19, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit either electronic or written comments on Agency guidances at any time comments 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-2009-D-0508 for “Registration and Product Listing for Owners and Operators of Domestic Tobacco Product Establishments.” 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 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.gpo.gov/​fdsys/​pkg/​FR-2015-09-18/​pdf/​2015-23389.

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.

Submit written requests for single copies of this guidance to the Center for Tobacco Products, Food and Drug Administration, Document Control Center, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. G335, 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 document may be sent. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for information on electronic access to the guidance.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Matthew Brenner, Center for Tobacco Products, Food and Drug Administration, Document Control Center, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. G335, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

FDA is announcing the availability of a revised guidance for industry entitled “Registration and Product Listing for Owners and Operators of Domestic Tobacco Product Establishments.” This guidance is intended to assist persons making tobacco product establishment registration and product listing submissions to FDA. We are issuing this guidance consistent with our good guidance practices regulation (§ 10.115 (21 CFR 10.115)). We are implementing this guidance without prior public comment because we have determined that prior public participation is not feasible or appropriate given the upcoming compliance deadline for registration and listing for certain owners and operators of tobacco product manufacturing establishments. In addition, the compliance policy for certain product listing labeling submissions set forth in this revised guidance presents a less burdensome policy consistent with the public health (§ 10.115(g)(2)). Although this guidance document is immediately in effect, it remains subject to comment in accordance with FDA's GGP regulation.

This revised guidance communicates a compliance policy for certain product listing labeling submissions. Specifically, FDA does not, at this time, intend to enforce the requirement that owners and operators of tobacco product establishments submit the labeling for each individually listed tobacco product if the registrant submits information that represents the labeling for a selected line of products. In deciding whether a registrant's submitted information falls within this compliance policy, FDA may consider whether the tobacco products' labeling is essentially identical (e.g., the same formatting, fonts, colors, background text, and images) and whether the variations are limited to package size, nicotine strength, propylene glycol/vegetable glycerin ratio, and flavor. Under this compliance policy, a registrant could submit information that represents the labeling for a selected line of products, and FDA would not intend to enforce the requirements in subsections 905(i)(1)(A) and (B) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 387e(1)(A) and (B)) with regard to labeling submissions.

This revised guidance also updates the compliance date for registration and listing for persons who owned or operated domestic manufacturing establishments engaged in the manufacture of newly deemed products prior to August 8, 2016, and continued to own or operate such establishment(s) on or after August 8, 2016. Such persons are required to register and submit product listing information under section 905 of the FD&C Act by December 31, 2016. However, in a guidance issued in May 2017, FDA announced that it does not intend to enforce these requirements with respect to newly deemed products provided the registration and product listing submissions are received by FDA on or before September 30, 2017.

The guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on this topic. 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.

II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

This guidance refers to previously approved collections of information found in FDA regulations. 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. 3501-3520). The collections of information in section 905 of the FD&C Act have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0650.

III. 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/​Labeling/​RulesRegulationsGuidance/​default.htm.

Dated: September 14, 2017.

Anna K. Abram,

Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Planning, Legislation, and Analysis.