FDA Age 21

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a final rule implementing requirements regarding the minimum age of 21 to buy tobacco products. These requirements are in line with a law passed in December 2019 as part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act. This law increased the minimum age for buying tobacco products in the United States from 18 to 21.

The FDA says that as its final rule is implemented, it expects to decrease underage tobacco sales.

Beginning September 30, retailers must verify with photo ID the age of anyone under 30 who is trying to purchase tobacco products. Previously, this requirement applied to anyone under 27. The FDA said research has shown that it is challenging to accurately validate age from appearance alone.

Additionally, in September, 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. The FDA says these changes aim to maximize the impact of the December 2019 legislation on public health.

“Today’s rule is another key step toward protecting our nation’s youth from the health risks of tobacco products,” said Brian King, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “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.”

The FDA has conducted more than 1.5 million compliance checks on tobacco retailers to ensure compliance with federal age restrictions. The FDA has said its inspections have resulted in 134,000 warning letters. The compliance checks also levied more than 33,000 civil money penalties. Finally, during the compliance checks, the FDA issued 230 no-tobacco-sale orders for violations related to federal age restrictions.

Besides the Tobacco 21 rules, the FDA also noted its voluntary education program, “This is Our Watch.” This program offers free resources to assist retailers in calculating customers’ ages. These include a digital age verification calendar and an age calculator app. Retailers can also find information on legally marked tobacco products in the United States through the Searchable Tobacco Products Database.

The Tobacco 21 movement began at the State level in June 2015. At that time, Hawaii became the first State to raise the age to purchase tobacco to 21. Another 18 states raised the tobacco purchase age to 21 before the Federal legislation was passed. As we’ve previously noted, the premium cigar industry put up no fight against raising the age to purchase tobacco to 21.