VAPE PMTA: A Pre-Market Tobacco Application Database

As the much dreaded PreMarket Tobacco Application (PMTA) deadline elapsed last week on September 9th, the VAPE PMTA database was launched with the intention of tracking the PMTA status of individual brands to help vapers identify which vaping products are legal.

Diane Caruana

September 14, 2020

The Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control Act requires that all tobacco products must receive a PreMarket Tobacco Application (PMTA) authorization before they can be sold across the U.S..Initially set for May 12th, as the deadline was approaching, a number of entities including Altria Group Inc. and tobacco association NATO, had asked the FDA to push the deadline back due to the complications caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The PMTA process was designed for product manufacturers who can afford the time and financial costs that come with it, leaving the smaller business in ruins.

To this effect, on March 30th the agency filed a request for a 120-day extension on the deadline, and on April 3rd, Judge Paul Grimm of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland agreed to the request, moving the deadline to September 9th, 2020.

This means that as of last week, all vape brands’ applications must be submitted to the FDA for review, or else have their products withdrawn from the legal US market.

Sadly, the PMTA regulatory process was clearly only designed for product manufacturers who can afford the time and financial costs that come with it, leaving the smaller business in ruins. Approximately 14,000 small vape businesses are estimated to be forced to close down as a result, leaving over 160,000 Americans unemployed.

Tracking individual brands’ PMTA status

The VAPE PMTA website was designed with the intention of tracking the status of vape vendor’s PMTAs. “VAPEPMTA.com is a Pre-market Tobacco Application (PMTA) Database — built to help vape users identify PMTA-compliant vaping products.”

The creators of the database are working closely with players in the vape industry in order to gather accurate data on vape vendor’s PMTA statuses, which is now represented on vapepmta.com. It lists which brands have submitted their applications, had their applications accepted, chose to not submit, intend to submit and so forth.