2021-26651. Tobacco Product User Fees: Responses to Frequently Asked Questions; Guidance for Industry; Availability

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice of availability.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Agency, or we) is announcing the availability of a final guidance for industry entitled “Tobacco Product User Fees: Responses to Frequently Asked Questions.” This guidance provides information in response to frequently asked questions related to tobacco product user fees assessed and collected under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act).

DATES:

The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal Register on December 9, 2021.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit either electronic or written comments on Agency guidances 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-2021-D-0373 for “Tobacco Product User Fees: Responses to Frequently Asked Questions.” 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, 240-402-7500.

• 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, 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:

Paul Hart, Center for Tobacco Products, Food and Drug Administration, Document Control Center, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. G335, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 1-877-287-1373, email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

FDA is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Tobacco Product User Fees: Responses to Frequently Asked Questions.” This guidance provides information in response to frequently asked questions related to tobacco product user fees assessed and collected under section 919 of the FD&C Act (21 U.S.C. 387s). In particular, this guidance provides information regarding the submission of information needed to assess user fees owed by each domestic manufacturer or importer of tobacco products and how FDA determines whether a company owes user fees in each quarterly assessment.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) was enacted on June 22, 2009 (Pub. L. 111-31), amending the FD&C Act and providing FDA with the authority to regulate tobacco products. Included in the Tobacco Control Act is the requirement that FDA assess and collect user fees. Section 919(a) of the FD&C Act requires FDA, in accordance with that section, to “assess user fees on, and collect such fees from, each manufacturer and importer of tobacco products” subject to the tobacco product provisions of the FD&C Act (chapter IX of the FD&C Act). Under the calculations required by section 919 of the FD&C Act, the tobacco products that are subject to user fee assessments are cigarettes, snuff, chewing tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, cigars, and pipe tobacco. The total amount of user fees for each fiscal year is specified in section 919(b)(1) of the FD&C Act, and, under section 919(a), FDA is to assess and collect one-fourth of that total each quarter of the fiscal year. The FD&C Act provides for the total quarterly assessment to be allocated among specified classes of tobacco products. The class allocation is based on each tobacco product class' volume of tobacco products removed into commerce. Within each class of tobacco products, an individual domestic manufacturer or importer is assessed a user fee based on its market share for that tobacco product class.

In the Federal Register of May 31, 2013 (78 FR 32581), FDA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to add 21 CFR part 1150 to require domestic tobacco product manufacturers and importers to submit to FDA information needed to calculate the amount of user fees to assess each domestic manufacturer and importer under the FD&C Act. In the Federal Register of July 10, 2014 (79 FR 39302), FDA finalized portions of the User Fee proposed rule related to cigarettes, snuff, chewing tobacco, and roll-your-own tobacco, which is codified at 21 CFR part 1150. In the Federal Register of May 10, 2016 (81 FR 28707), FDA finalized a rule that requires domestic manufacturers and importers of cigars and pipe tobacco to submit information needed to calculate the amount of user fees assessed under the FD&C Act. In the Federal Register of May 27, 2021 (86 FR 28604), we published the notice of availability for the draft guidance “Tobacco Product User Fees: Responses to Frequently Asked Questions.” On July 26, 2021, the comment period closed with no comments having been received. We are now finalizing the guidance with no substantive changes.

This guidance is being issued consistent with FDA's good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115). The guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on frequently asked questions about tobacco product user fees set forth in the guidance. 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

While this guidance contains no collection of information, it does refer to previously approved FDA collections of information. Therefore, clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521) is not required for this guidance. The previously approved collections of information are subject to review by OMB under the PRA. The collections of information in 21 CFR part 1150 have been approved under 0910-0749.

III. Electronic Access

Persons with access to the internet may obtain an electronic version of the guidance at either https://www.fda.gov/​regulatory-information/​search-fda-guidance-documents,, https://www.fda.gov/​TobaccoProducts/​Labeling/​RulesRegulationsGuidance/​default.htm,, or https://www.regulations.gov.

Dated: December 3, 2021.

Lauren K. Roth,

Associate Commissioner for Policy.