Long title | To protect the public health by providing the Food and Drug Administration with certain authority to regulate tobacco products, to amend title 5, United States Code, to make certain modifications in the Thrift Savings Plan, the Civil Service Retirement System, and the Federal Employees’ Retirement System, and for other purposes. |
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Nicknames | Tobacco Control Act |
Enacted by | the 111th United States Congress |
Effective | June 22, 2009 |
Citations | |
Public law | Pub.L. 111–31 |
Statutes at Large | 123 Stat. 1776–1858 |
Codification | |
Acts amended |
Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act |
Titles amended | Title 21 USC 301: Food and Drugs |
Legislative history | |
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The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, (Pub.L. 111–31, H.R. 1256) is a federal statute in the United States that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 22, 2009. The Act gives the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate the tobacco industry. A signature element of the law imposes new warnings and labels on tobacco packaging and their advertisements, with the goal of discouraging minors and young adults from smoking. The Act also bans flavored cigarettes, places limits on the advertising of tobacco products to minors and requires tobacco companies to seek FDA approval for new tobacco products.
On March 21, 2000, the Supreme Court in FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., in a 5-4 decision, held that the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, particularly when considering "Congress’ subsequent tobacco-specific legislation," that Congress had not given the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products as customarily marketed. Thus the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was introduced to respond to the decision, which had held that the Clinton administration's FDA had "overreached" its Congressionally delegated authority, thus giving the FDA the authority the Court determined it had lacked.
The bill passed the United States House of Representatives on April 2, 2009, by a vote of 298 to 112. The House bill had 178 cosponsors and the companion legislation in the Senate, S. 982 had 57 cosponsors. On May 20, 2009, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions ordered the Senate bill to be reported favorably with amendments on a 15-8 vote.