FLER at APE

The Florida Senate Industries Committee advance SB 980, the “Florida Age-Gate Act,” which would restrict advertising, promotion, and open displays of certain nicotine dispensing devices that lack FDA marketing authorization, with escalating penalties. Separately, the Florida House Ways and Means Committee advance HB 377, which would exclude heated tobacco products from being taxed like cigarettes.

Police said detections of new drugs disguised as e-cigarettes reached 1,206 cases through September last year, up from 941 in 2022, and the number of detected drug types increased from 26 to 33 over the same period.

Vape manufacturers and sellers urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to find that the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) preempts North Carolina’s new law restricting the sale of certain e-cigarette/ENDS products.

Volgograd, Russia say a retailer was caught selling unlabelled nicotine products, including electronic nicotine delivery devices flagged in the national “Honest Sign” tracking system as already withdrawn from circulation. A local court fined the entrepreneur 300,000 rubles and ordered 41 confiscated items to be destroyed, with the decision now in effect.

Philip Morris Japan announced the launch of a new TEREA heated tobacco stick for the IQOS ILUMA series, “TEREA Stellar Pearl,” featuring a crushable capsule mint profile. The product will go on sale in Japan through offline retail channels from Jan. 19 and will be rolled out on the company’s official e-commerce store from Jan. 29, priced at 580 yen (about $3.6) per pack.

Responsible Vaping Ireland (RVI) has urged TDs to fully scrutinise the Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill 2025 as it comes before the Dáil for debate. Representing more than 3,300 independent vape retailers, RVI stressed that meaningful consultation with retailers and enforcement authorities is essential to ensure the ban meets its public health and environmental goals without unintended consequences.