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Agustin Rodriguez

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Agustin is sought after by clients for his strategic counsel on their most challenging competitive and regulatory compliance issues, including tobacco Master Settlement Agreement issues, federal and state enforcement investigations, licensing and excise tax issues, developing compliance programs, and evaluating advertising and marketing practices. A partner in the firm’s Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement (RISE) Practice Group as well as its Tobacco and Cannabis law practices, he represents manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and suppliers in all aspects of their businesses, including regulatory compliance, FDA requirements, administrative disputes involving federal or state governmental entities, mergers and acquisitions, commercial agreements, and taxation matters.

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Published in Update on May 25, 2023. © Copyright 2023, Food and Drug Law Institute, publisher of Update. Reprinted here with permission.

Recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation raises an interesting question: When federal agency action requires analyses under a holistic, multi-factor statutory standard, may the agency withhold from disclosure as “deliberative” records related to analyses that purportedly were not factored into the agency’s final decision? A federal court will address this question of public disclosure in litigation between Juul Labs, Inc. (JLI) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).…

Continue Reading Juul Labs, Inc. v. FDA: A FOIA Twist on the Challenge to FDA’s Marketing Denial Order

The Virginia ABC will assess a regulatory scheme for liquid nicotine, with the consultation of stakeholders, and issue a report and recommendations.

On April 12, the Virginia General Assembly enacted House Bill 2296 and Senate Bill 1350, incorporating recommendations of Governor Glenn Youngkin to have the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC) “assess” a potential licensing scheme for liquid nicotine manufacturers, distributors, and retail dealers, as well as administrative and enforcement matters relating to liquid nicotine licensing, age verification, product verification, and advertising restrictions. These bills effectively instruct the ABC to tell the Virginia General Assembly whether and how the Commonwealth should regulate liquid nicotine. The ABC’s report and recommendations are due by November 1, and will be informed by stakeholder input. The enactments specify that the ABC will conduct its assessment “in consultation with stakeholders, including public and community health organizations, retailers, tobacco and vaporized nicotine companies, and wholesalers.”…

Continue Reading Stakeholders’ Input Welcome: Virginia ABC to Assess Options for Regulating Liquid Nicotine in the Commonwealth

On May 11, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, along with two convenience stores and the American Petroleum and Convenience Store Association, sued the California attorney general and district attorney for Fresno County in their official capacities, seeking declaratory relief that these California officials misinterpreted and misapplied California’s ban on flavored tobacco products and incorrectly concluded that RJ Reynolds’ new products violate this ban.…

Continue Reading RJ Reynolds Sues California AG Disputing Applicability of Flavor Ban

This is the third post in our multipart series evaluating the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) response to the Reagan-Udall Foundation report (the Report) on the operations of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). If you missed our prior posts on the Report and FDA’s response, check them out here, here, and here.

In this segment of our series evaluating FDA’s response to the Report (which can be found here and here), we review a subset of the Report’s recommendations and responses from two CTP Task Forces—Cross Cutting and Regulation and Guidance.…

Continue Reading Inside FDA’s Response to Reagan-Udall Foundation Report: Spotlight on the Cross-Cutting and Regulation and Guidance Task Forces

Over the last several months, FDA and DOJ enforcement efforts have increasingly focused on manufacturers and distributors of vapor products covered by the Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act and the PACT Act.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) are increasingly focusing enforcement efforts on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). Such enforcement priorities have been reflected in six DOJ complaints for injunctions and four FDA complaints for civil monetary penalties (CMP) against businesses dealing in ENDS without marketing authorization under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). In addition, ENDS businesses have been receiving communications from DOJ’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) alleging violations of the PACT Act, and FDA has issued a substantial number of warning letters alleging ENDS businesses’ FD&C Act violations. Federal prioritization of ENDS enforcement has also been reflected in FDA statements in connection with its CMP complaints and the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s operational evaluation of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), which we have discussed here, here, and here.…

Continue Reading Federal Government Ramping Up Vapor Enforcement

Bryan Haynes, Agustin Rodriguez and Nicholas Ramos of the Troutman Pepper Tobacco Team will be attending TMA’s 2023 Conference and Annual Meeting. This in-person event will be held in Leesburg, VA from April 17-19, 2023. Hot topics will include discussions surrounding nicotine policies; federal, state, and local enforcement initiatives, FDA submission pathways, FDA tobacco…

This is the second post in our multipart series evaluating the Food and Drug Administration’s response to the Regan-Udall Foundation report on the operations of the Center for Tobacco Products. If you missed our first post, check it out here.

There is a common refrain that appears throughout the Reagan-Udall Foundation report on the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — lack of transparency. The report found that stakeholders generally perceived premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) — required for all electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) on the market — as “ineffective and problematic” due in part to a “lack of adequate guidance and transparency regarding CTP expectations,” as well as a “lack of clarity regarding review standards.”…

Continue Reading Inside FDA’s Response to Reagan-Udall Foundation Report: Spotlight on the Science and Application Review Task Force

The Troutman Pepper Tobacco Team was featured in part two of a two-part podcast on recent developments in the tobacco industry and what to expect for the coming year. In this podcast, Bryan Haynes, Agustin Rodriguez and Nick Ramos discuss tobacco excise taxes; challenges to flavor bans; FDA’s regulation of nicotine levels; potential bans on…

FDA’s approach to a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) raises new questions about whether its marketing denial order was arbitrary and capricious and whether the deliberative-process exemption justifies its withholding of related records. The Agency’s approach is partially documented in a memorandum that FDA disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, and there is pending litigation over other records that FDA continues to withhold. 

May a federal agency that has issued its final determination on a PMTA set aside a portion of its written analysis and withhold those records under the deliberative-process exemption to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)? What if those records actually support the PMTA or undermine the purported bases for the agency’s action? These are questions stemming from two pending cases involving FDA and JUUL Labs, Inc. (JLI). In No. 22-1123 (D.C. Cir.), JLI claims that FDA’s marketing denial order (MDO) on its PMTAs was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In No. 1:22-cv-02853 (D.D.C.), JLI claims that FDA’s withholding of these records is not supported by FOIA’s deliberative-process exemption.…

Continue Reading Hidden FDA Report Raises Questions About Its Approach to Public Records and Premarket Tobacco Review

On March 8, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it is proposing a long-awaited rule on so-called “tobacco product manufacturing practices.”  Here are some preliminary thoughts on the proposed rule:

  • The timing of the proposed rule was a bit of a surprise. Although the proposed rule had been listed as a priority on FDA’s regulatory agenda for some time, nothing indicated that this proposal was imminent. And FDA has identified a number of other rulemaking priorities for 2023, including the proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, the proposed ban on characterizing flavors in cigars and a proposed standard on nicotine levels in cigarettes. It is becoming more and more clear that new leadership at FDA and the Center for Tobacco Products will be working aggressively to impose new requirements on industry.

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Continue Reading FDA Announces New Proposed Rule on “Tobacco Product Manufacturing Practices”