What is Section 772? Let’s go back a bit to when President Donald Trump signed the massive government funding bill, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act of 2026 (H.R. 5371) on November 12. With that signature, federal agencies finally got their full-year budget after 43 days of federal shutdown.
All is good and well, until you dig deep inside that bill, and see something that could shake the vape and nicotine industry: in Part B, Section 772, a new mandate dramatically ramps up federal enforcement against e-cigarettes, vapes, and other Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS).
For anyone working in or following the vape space, this section is about to reshape the regulatory landscape.
What Section 772 Actually Does
Section 772 directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allocate at least $200 million from its annual tobacco user fees specifically toward ENDS enforcement. Here’s what that money has to fund:
1. A $2 Million Multi-Agency Task Force
A small but significant slice — $2 million — must continue supporting a task force involving:
- The Department of Justice
- The Department of Homeland Security
- Other federal partners
Their primary focus? Stopping illegal imports and distribution of vapes, especially those coming from China.
2. Updating the FDA’s 2020 “Enforcement Priorities”
Within a year, the FDA has to revise its 2020 guidance to explicitly expand enforcement to flavored disposable vapes, not just cartridge-based systems.
3. A Clear Definition of “Disposable ENDS Products”
This sounds technical, but it’s huge.
Once the FDA defines what counts as a “disposable,” many product categories could be regulated differently — and potentially more strictly.
4. Regular Reports to Congress
Every six months, the FDA must update Congress on how effective it has been at removing unauthorized ENDS products from the market.
5. Strengthened Border Authority
The Act also amends Section 801(a) of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to explicitly include “tobacco product.”
This aligns tobacco imports with the same enforcement tools used for drugs and medical devices — giving the FDA more power to seize products at the border.
What This Means for the Vape Industry
This is the largest enforcement budget the vape sector has seen since the FDA’s 2016 “deeming rule.” With Congress now backing a crackdown, we should expect:
- More product seizures
- More inspections
- More aggressive oversight of imports
The stated goal is to remove illegal, foreign-made, non-PMTA vapes from the U.S. market. But broad language and sweeping enforcement could easily hit small American manufacturers and distributors — many of whom are still waiting on PMTA decisions they submitted in good faith years ago.
In other words, this funding could widen the gap between the Big Tobacco giants who can afford compliance and the smaller innovators who built much of the modern vape market.
History Repeats: Enforcement Without Real Reform
Section 772 makes one thing clear: the FDA is still leading with enforcement, not improvement.
Instead of:
- Fixing the broken PMTA system,
- Supporting harm-reduction products, or
- Providing clearer, industry-friendly regulatory pathways,
Congress doubled down on giving the agency more tools to punish, seize, and restrict.
Meanwhile, adult consumers — especially former smokers who rely on vaping — are stuck in the middle of a regulatory battle that mixes legitimate youth protection with heavy-handed crackdowns on harm-reducing alternatives.
What’s Next?
Within 180 days, the FDA must send Congress its first report, detailing how it’s:
- Educating retailers on identifying “legal” ENDS products
- Targeting illegal imports and unapproved sales
- Coordinating with DOJ, DHS, and the rest of the new task force
What we still don’t know is whether all this funding will translate into smarter enforcement — or a repeat of previous crackdowns where legal businesses and adult consumers paid the price.
But one thing is certain: Section 772 is a turning point.
It signals that the federal government is prioritizing enforcement over long-promised regulatory reforms — the same reforms many say are needed to fix the black market the FDA helped create.With a $200 million war chest, we can only expect the FDA to be aggressive in cleaning up the vape market. Ideally, that means stopping unsafe, illegal imports — not punishing legitimate U.S. companies that are trying to follow the rules. Whether this crackdown makes the market safer or simply more restrictive will depend on how the FDA chooses to use its new power.
