The pressure on vaping is growing in the United States: alongside the regulatory updates still in definition and the indictment for the epidemic among young people, the introduction of new fees, which will also affect consumer prices, is outlined.

The proposed President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget includes $100 million user fees on, as FDA stated, ‘manufacturers and importers of deemed tobacco products, in particular and especially electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), and certain other products within the FDA’s tobacco user fee assessments. E-cigarettes, in particular, represent an increasing share of the tobacco marketplace.’

Fiscal year 2020 will start on October 1, 2019. These new revenues, if approved by the Congress, will be used by the FDA to continue building the new regulatory framework for vaping products and to implement the fight against the spread of vaping products among youth.

Previously, the tobacco user fees have been applied exclusively to products actually containing tobacco leaves, like cigarettes, cigars or snuff. Users fees are charged to manufacturers and importers, not directly to consumers. It’s reasonable to expect, however, that, at least in part, their amount will lead to an increase in retail costs, and will therefore also fall on consumers.