Pennsylvania ENDS Directory Enforcement for Vape Sellers

Pennsylvania’s Office of Attorney General can now seize nicotine vapes that are missing from its electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) directory. Enforcement of Act 57 of 2025 opened on October 19, 2026, and from that date any unlisted e-cigarette that is sold, offered for sale, or possessed for sale in Pennsylvania is subject to seizure, according to the office’s revised ENDS FAQ, dated October 9.

The law reaches manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers. A retailer, wholesaler, or importer that offers an unlisted product faces a $500 civil penalty per product on a first violation, and the statute counts every individual e-cigarette as its own product, even when several units share one stock-keeping unit (SKU) number. Repeat violations within 12 months bring daily penalties plus suspension or revocation of a state tobacco license.

What Act 57 requires before a vape can be sold

Governor Josh Shapiro signed Act 57 on December 22, 2025. It added a directory section to Pennsylvania’s Fiscal Code, 72 P.S. § 206-I, and made the Attorney General responsible for the list, with the Department of Revenue sharing enforcement.

A manufacturer gets a product listed by certifying one of three things. The product has a marketing granted order from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Or it is covered by a “timely filed” premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) that FDA is still reviewing, or whose denial has been stayed, rescinded, or vacated. Or it differs from a covered product only in name, brand style, or packaging. The statute defines a timely PMTA as one for a product on the U.S. market as of August 8, 2016, submitted to FDA by September 9, 2020, and accepted for filing.

Certification is not cheap. The FAQ sets initial fees at $2,000 for each brand family plus $200 for each brand style, with renewals of $1,000 and $100 due by April 21 every year. Manufacturers also post a surety bond, and foreign makers need each importer to sign a declaration accepting joint and several liability.

A short list on the first day of enforcement

The FAQ says the directory first went online on June 18, 2026 with no approved manufacturers, and that the October date would not move because the statute sets it. When EC4IM checked the ENDS directory page on October 20, its manufacturer filter showed seven companies: Blue Nine LLC, Custom Technologies LLC, Juul Labs, Logic Technology Development, NJoy, R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company, and The Schwartz E-Liquid. The same page said 22 manufacturer certifications were still under review.

The office also posts a spreadsheet of manufacturers with pending certifications, last updated October 6, covering companies that agreed to disclose their status. The page cautions that a pending listing “is not, and should not be considered to be, indicative” of whether a certification meets the law. Because Act 57’s sales ban applies to products “not included in the directory,” pending status alone does not appear to make a product sellable in Pennsylvania.

Attorney General Dave Sunday said in an October 8 press release that his office plans targeted enforcement across the state, will offer compliance education during inspections, and will grade penalties for repeat offenders.

“This law is about keeping harmful products out of the hands of both children and adults who may not realize what they are consuming.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, October 8, 2026

Nicotine-free products that share a nicotine brand name

Act 57 defines an electronic cigarette that contains nicotine broadly. It covers products labeled, advertised, or marketed as containing nicotine, products the Attorney General or the Department of Revenue determines contain nicotine, and products sold under the same brand name as either.

The Attorney General’s ENDS laws and directory page says same-brand products are presumed to contain nicotine unless the manufacturer files a sworn statement that they do not, backed by a test from a domestic certified laboratory. The FAQ adds that the maker must supply packaging images, that the lab result must be attested to and signed by the lab technician, and that these nicotine-free listings carry no certification fee.

Components follow the same logic. Atomizers, cartomizers, clearomizers, and batteries sold separately must be certified if they meet the definition, including when they share a nicotine brand’s name. The FAQ treats a USB charger as an accessory outside that group. For a catalog manager, a zero-nicotine flavor line or a replacement pod carrying a nicotine brand’s name is not outside the law by default.

How the penalties add up

The statute and the Attorney General’s ENDS directory law guide set a graduated scale for retailers, wholesalers, and importers:

First violation: $500 for each product offered for sale until it is removed or properly listed. The state may negotiate this down to the cost of destroying the product if the seller shows compliance within 30 business days of the violation notice.
Second violation within 12 months: $750 to $1,000 per day per product, plus a license suspension of at least 14 days.
Third violation within 12 months: $1,000 to $1,500 per day per product, plus license revocation.
Manufacturers: $1,000 for each unlisted product offered for sale in the state.

Because each unit counts separately, a Pennsylvania shop holding 40 units of one unlisted disposable would face $20,000 on a first violation under the statute’s arithmetic. Seizure, transport, storage, and destruction costs come on top, charged to the person the goods were taken from, and the FAQ warns they “may be greater than the amount of civil penalty imposed.” A violation is also deemed an unfair or deceptive practice under Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.

Three violations in 12 months put a business on the public Tobacco Noncompliance Database, and any business that sells to or buys from a listed company for Pennsylvania retail owes $500 per product. Consumers who made a genuine purchase are exempt from seizure and penalties.

Where online sellers fit

Act 57 bars unlisted products from being “sold for retail sale in this Commonwealth either directly or through an importer, wholesaler, retailer or similar intermediary.” The Attorney General’s materials center on licensed retailers and wholesalers, premises inspections, and records checks. Neither the guide nor the FAQ says how the office will treat an out-of-state website that ships to a Pennsylvania address.

Federal shipping law still applies. The FAQ lists compliance with the federal Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act among every seller’s duties, and the guide names failure to report shipments under PACT as a ground for denying or removing a manufacturer’s listing. Delivery rules also shift state by state, as EC4IM reported when Virginia ended licensed home delivery for online vape orders.

The statute does describe what it expects from order systems. A Pennsylvania wholesaler that also serves other states may keep unlisted stock only if it is physically separated from Pennsylvania inventory, and its ordering system “shall have measures designed to prevent sale within this Commonwealth” of unlisted products. A wholesaler that labels stock as bound out of state and then sells it to a Pennsylvania retailer owes an extra $500 per unit.

For an online store that keeps shipping into Pennsylvania, the nearest equivalent is a ship-to rule. In EC4IM’s reading, that means tagging each brand style (flavor, nicotine strength, and size all count, according to the FAQ) as listed or unlisted, then blocking unlisted nicotine SKUs and same-brand nicotine-free SKUs at checkout for Pennsylvania addresses. EC4IM’s guide to encoding state shipping bans in cart rules covers the mechanics. The directory changes as approvals land, and the office will add sellers to an email list for change notices through pavapedirectory@attorneygeneral.gov, though the FAQ says sellers remain “ultimately responsible” for confirming listings.

Seven listed makers and a per-unit fine

Pennsylvania’s ENDS directory law moved from paperwork to enforcement on October 19, 2026, with seven manufacturers in the directory’s filter, 22 certifications still pending, and penalties that start at $500 for every unlisted unit. The rules pull in nicotine-free products and parts sold under nicotine brand names, put destruction costs on the seller, and leave open how the Attorney General will approach remote websites. Stores that sell vapes to Pennsylvania customers now need a listing check at the brand-style level, a checkout block for anything unlisted, and a routine for tracking the directory as it grows.

Pennsylvania Can Now Seize Vapes Missing From the Attorney General’s ENDS Directory