(a)  No cigarettes may be sold or offered for sale in this state or offered for sale or sold to persons located in this state unless such cigarettes have been tested in accordance with the test method and meet the performance standard specified in this subsection; and a written certification has been filed by the manufacturer with the director in accordance with § 23-20.11-5 of this act; and the cigarettes have been marked in accordance with § 23-20.11-6 of this act.

(1)  Testing of cigarettes shall be conducted in accordance with the American Society of Testing and Materials (“ASTM”) standard E2187-04 “Standard Test Method for Measuring the Ignition Strength of Cigarettes.”

(2)  Testing shall be conducted on ten (10) layers of filter paper.

(3)  No more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the cigarettes tested in a test trial in accordance with this subsection shall exhibit full-length burns. Forty (40) replicate tests shall comprise a complete test trial for each cigarette tested.

(4)  The performance standard required by this subsection shall only be applied to a complete test trial.

(5)  Written certifications shall be based upon testing conducted by a laboratory that has been accredited pursuant to Standard ISO/IEC 17025 of the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”), or other comparable accreditation standard required by the director.

(6)  Laboratories conducting testing in accordance with this subsection shall implement a quality control and quality assurance program that includes a procedure to determine the repeatability of the testing results. The repeatability value shall be no greater than nineteen hundredths (0.19).

(7)  This section does not require additional testing if cigarettes are tested consistent with this chapter for any other purpose.

(8)  Testing performed or sponsored by the director to determine a cigarette’s compliance with the performance standard required by this section shall be conducted in accordance with this section.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.11-4

  • Cigarette: shall mean any roll for smoking whether made wholly or in part of tobacco or any other substance, irrespective of size or shape and whether or not such tobacco or substance is flavored, adulterated or mixed with any other ingredient, the wrapper or cover of which is made of paper or any other substance or material except tobacco, and that because of its size, appearance, the type of tobacco used in its filler, or its packaging or labeling, is likely to be offered to, or purchased by, consumers as a cigarette or cigarette equivalent. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.11-3
  • Director: shall mean the director of the Rhode Island department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.11-3
  • Manufacturer: shall mean :

    (i)  Any entity which manufacturers or otherwise produces cigarettes or causes cigarettes to be manufactured or produced anywhere that such manufacturer intends to be sold in this state, including cigarettes intended to be sold in the United States through an importer; or

    (ii)  The first purchaser anywhere that intends to resell in the United States cigarettes manufactured anywhere that the original manufacturer or maker does not intend to be sold in the United States; or

    (iii)  Any entity that becomes a successor of an entity described in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subdivision. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.11-3

  • Quality control and quality assurance program: shall mean the laboratory procedures implemented to ensure that operator bias, systematic and nonsystematic methodological errors, and equipment-related problems do not affect the results of the testing. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.11-3
  • Repeatability: shall mean the range of values within which the repeat results of cigarette test trails from a single laboratory will fall ninety-five percent (95%) of the time. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.11-3
  • Sale: shall mean any transfer of title or possession or both, exchange or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatever or any agreement therefor. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.11-3
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.

(b)  Each cigarette listed in a certification submitted pursuant to § 23-20.11-5 of this act that uses lowered permeability bands in the cigarette paper to achieve compliance with the performance standard set forth in this section shall have at least two (2) nominally identical bands on the paper surrounding the tobacco column. At least one complete band shall be located at least fifteen (15) millimeters from the lighting end of the cigarette. For cigarettes on which the bands are positioned by design, there shall be at least two (2) bands fully located at least fifteen (15) millimeters from the lighting end and ten (10) millimeters from the filter end of the tobacco column, or ten (10) millimeters from the labeled end of the tobacco column for a nonfiltered cigarette.

(c)  The manufacturer or manufacturers of a cigarette that the director determines cannot be tested in accordance with the test method prescribed in subsection 23-20.11-4(a) shall propose a test method and performance standard for such cigarette to the director. Upon approval of the proposed test method and a determination by the director that the performance standard proposed by the manufacturer or manufacturers is equivalent to the performance standard prescribed in subsection 23-20.11-4(a), the manufacturer or manufacturers may employ such test method and performance standard to certify such cigarette pursuant to § 23-20.11-5 of this act. If the director determines that another state has enacted reduced cigarette ignition propensity standards that include a test method and performance standard that are the same as those contained in this section, and the director finds that the officials responsible for implementing those requirements have approved the proposed alternative test method and performance standard for a particular cigarette proposed by a manufacturer as meeting the reduced cigarette ignition propensity standards of that state’s law or regulation under a legal provision comparable to this subsection, then the director shall authorize that manufacturer to employ the alternative test method and performance standard to certify that cigarette for sale in this state, unless the director demonstrates a reasonable basis why the alternative test should not be accepted under this chapter. All other applicable requirements of this section shall apply to such manufacturer or manufacturers.

(d)  Each manufacturer shall maintain copies of the reports of all tests conducted on all cigarettes offered for sale for a period of three (3) years, and shall make copies of these reports available to the director and the attorney general upon written request. Any manufacturer who fails to make copies of these reports available within sixty (60) days of receiving a written request shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each day after the sixtieth (60th) day that the manufacturer does not make such copies available.

(e)  The director may adopt a subsequent ASTM Standard Test Method for Measuring the Ignition Strength of Cigarettes upon a finding that such subsequent method does not result in a change in the percentage of full-length burns exhibited by any tested cigarette when compared to the percentage of full-length burns the same cigarette would exhibit when tested in accordance with ASTM Standard E2187-04 and the performance standard prescribed in subsection 23-20.11-4(a).

(f)  As of January 1, 2010, and at least every three (3) years thereafter, the director shall review of the effectiveness of this section and report to the legislature the director’s finding’s and, if appropriate, recommendations for legislation to improve the effectiveness of this section. The report and legislative recommendations shall be submitted no later than January 1 of each three (3) year period.

(g)  This chapter shall be implemented in accordance with the implementation and substance of the New York Fire Safety Standards for Cigarettes.

History of Section.
P.L. 2007, ch. 245, § 1; P.L. 2007, ch. 333, § 1.