[August 22, 2023 – Washington, DC] The Premium Cigar Association (PCA), represented by Deputy Executive Director/Head of Government Affairs Joshua Habursky, presented to the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) at the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on their strategic plan during its public listening session.
FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products has initiated the development of a 5-year strategic plan to advance its mission. As part of an iterative, center-wide process, CTP has developed five proposed goal areas that have been shaped by staff and leaders from across the center. These goal areas are intended to be interconnected with four proposed cross-cutting themes: health equity, science, transparency, and stakeholder engagement.
“We are aggressively taking CTP to task for past failures that led to our successful lawsuits and ensuring that the agency doesn’t make the same mistakes in the future for premium cigars and other products that might not meet the definitional standard of premium cigars carried by our retail members.” says Habursky.
Executive Director Scott Pearce notes, “PCA government affairs isn’t stopping. With our major court victory, we don’t have to be as reactionary as we have had to be in the past. This is an example of the association going on the offensive and defensive at the same time to protect the bottom line of small business retailers.” The association will also be submitting a written comment by the August 29, 2023, deadline.
Pearce continues, “We will be weighing in on multiple fronts related to the Characterizing Product Standard for Flavored Cigars and the Tobacco Manufacturing Practices Standard. This listening session was an opportunity to address CTP’s systemic issues that are on full display in these proposed regulations.”
Click here to learn more about the listening session.
To view PCA’s oral comment, click here.