- Iowa’s Department of Revenue did not publish its vapor products directory on October 15, 2026, as planned, and dropped the November 16 enforcement date.
- No new dates have been set. Until the directory is published, retailers can keep selling products that would otherwise be excluded.
- Once in force, the law will only allow FDA-authorized products and products covered by certain pending applications, with fines starting at $300 per product per day.
A last-minute delay
On Thursday, October 15, the very day it was due to publish the directory, the Iowa Department of Revenue announced that it would neither publish it nor begin enforcing penalties on November 16, as it had previously stated. The department explained that it wanted to give manufacturers more time to provide information, which will help it determine whether their products qualify for inclusion.
No new dates have been set, and the department says it will make another announcement before publication. Until then, the directory is not in effect. Once published, it will apply immediately, but penalties will only be enforced 21 business days later, a period the department intends to devote to helping businesses comply.
Department spokesperson John Fuller told Axios that the revised publication and enforcement dates will be posted on the department’s website.
Two ways in
The directory was created by House File 2677, adopted in 2024. Under section 453A.52 of the Iowa Code, every manufacturer whose vapor products are sold in the state must certify each product annually, under penalty of perjury, and pay $100 per product listed. Only two categories of products can be certified:
- products that have received a marketing authorization from the FDA;
- products that were on the US market on August 8, 2016, for which a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) was submitted by September 9, 2020, and which are either still under FDA review or have not received a final decision that has taken effect.
The FDA has so far authorized only a limited number of e-cigarettes, the latest being the JUUL2 device and its tobacco and menthol pods in August. Products launched after August 2016 without authorization cannot qualify under either category.
Escalating penalties
Under section 453A.52B, a retailer, distributor or wholesaler selling a product that is not listed faces a civil penalty of $300 per day for each product, until it is removed from sale or properly listed. Repeat violations by retailers bring heavier sanctions:
- a $1,500 fine or a 30-day permit suspension for a second violation within two years;
- a $1,500 fine plus a 30-day suspension for a third violation, and a 60-day suspension for a fourth, within three years;
- revocation of the retail permit for a fifth violation within four years.
Manufacturers whose unlisted products are sold in Iowa face $1,000 per product per day. Fees and penalties collected under the directory go to the state’s Health Care Trust Fund, according to the department.
From injunction to appeal
This is not the first postponement. The directory was initially due to be published on January 2, 2025, before a coalition of vape businesses and consumers led by Iowans for Alternatives to Smoking & Tobacco sued the state in December 2024, arguing that the law was preempted by federal tobacco legislation. A federal judge blocked the law in May 2025.
On July 30, 2026, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated that preliminary injunction. The panel found that the plaintiffs had standing to sue but were unlikely to succeed on their preemption claim, and sent the case back to the district court. The judges noted that the FDA itself has repeatedly acknowledged its limited enforcement resources, and saw no reason to assume that state enforcement duplicating federal requirements would frustrate Congress’s intent. In a concurring opinion, Judge James Loken said a more developed record would be needed to settle the preemption question, Minnesota Lawyer reported.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird welcomed the ruling, presenting the law as a tool against illegal Chinese vapes. After the injunction was dissolved, the department reopened its portal so that manufacturers could resume submitting certification applications. The lawsuit itself is still pending.
A contested model
Iowa is far from alone. As of June, at least 16 states had enacted similar directory laws, according to Axios. In Iowa, the bill was backed by the tobacco industry, The Gazette reported.
The effectiveness of these laws is also in question. A CDC Foundation study published on September 15 in JAMA Network Open examined the first three states to implement a directory. In Alabama and Oklahoma, it found no significant change in e-cigarette sales or in the number of products available. In Louisiana, the number of products on offer fell by about 54% compared with a synthetic control, and remained lower. Sales dropped sharply, by up to 63% in July 2024, but had returned to the control level by April 2025.
By then, products absent from the directories accounted for more than half of e-cigarette nicotine sales in all three states, and for 92% in Alabama. The study relied on retail scanner data, which do not cover vape shops or online sales.
What happens next
For now, Iowa retailers can keep selling their current inventory, and the department has not specified what information it is still waiting for from manufacturers.
The federal landscape has also shifted since the law was passed. The FDA has eased its enforcement approach toward some products with pending applications, and plans to replace its 2021 PMTA rule. Iowa’s criteria, however, are written into law: a product launched after August 2016 or filed after September 2020 will remain excluded from the directory unless it obtains an FDA marketing authorization.
