Section 69-503 - Cigarettes; testing; requirements; performance standard; manufacturer; duties; civil penalty; State Fire Marshal; powers and duties(1) Except as provided in subsection (7) of this section, 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 the cigarettes have been tested in accordance with the following test method and meet the performance standard specified in this section, a written certification has been filed by the manufacturer with the State Fire Marshal in accordance with section 69-504, and the cigarettes have been marked in accordance with section 69-505. Testing shall be as follows:(a) Testing of cigarettes shall be conducted in accordance with the American Society of Testing and Materials Standard E2187-04, Standard Test Method for Measuring the Ignition Strength of Cigarettes;(b) Testing shall be conducted on ten layers of filter paper;(c) No more than twenty-five percent of the cigarettes tested in a test trial in accordance with this subsection shall exhibit full-length burns. Forty replicate tests shall comprise a complete test trial for each cigarette tested;(d) The performance standard required by this subsection shall only be applied to a complete test trial;(e) 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 or other comparable accreditation standard required by the State Fire Marshal;(f) Laboratories conducting testing in accordance with this subsection shall implement a quality control and quality assurance program that includes a procedure that will determine the repeatability of the testing results. The repeatability value shall be no greater than 0.19;(g) This subsection does not require additional testing if cigarettes are tested consistent with the Reduced Cigarette Ignition Propensity Act for any other purpose; and(h) Testing performed or sponsored by the State Fire Marshal to determine a cigarette's compliance with the performance standard required by this section shall be conducted in accordance with this subsection.(2) Each cigarette listed in a certification submitted pursuant to section 69-504 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 nominally identical bands on the paper surrounding the tobacco column. At least one complete band shall be located at least fifteen millimeters from the lighting end of the cigarette. For cigarettes on which the bands are positioned by design, there shall be at least two bands fully located at least fifteen millimeters from the lighting end and ten millimeters from the filter end of the tobacco column, or ten millimeters from the labeled end of the tobacco column for nonfiltered cigarettes.(3) A manufacturer of a cigarette that the State Fire Marshal determines cannot be tested in accordance with the test method prescribed in subdivision (1)(a) of this section shall propose a test method and performance standard for the cigarette to the State Fire Marshal. If the State Fire Marshal 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 the Reduced Cigarette Ignition Propensity Act and the State Fire Marshal 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 fire safety standards of that state's law or regulation under a legal provision comparable to this section, then the State Fire Marshal shall authorize that manufacturer to employ the alternative test method and performance standard to certify that cigarette for sale in this state, unless the State Fire Marshal demonstrates a reasonable basis why the alternative test should not be accepted under the act. All other applicable requirements of this section shall apply to the manufacturer.(4) Each manufacturer shall maintain copies of the reports of all tests conducted on all cigarettes offered for sale for a period of three years and shall make copies of these reports available to the State Fire Marshal and the Attorney General upon written request. Any manufacturer who fails to make copies of these reports available within sixty days after receiving a written request shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars for each day after the sixtieth day that the manufacturer does not make such copies available.(5) The State Fire Marshal may adopt a subsequent American Society of Testing and Materials 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 the American Society of Testing and Materials Standard E2187-04 and the performance standard in subdivision (1)(c) of this section.(6) The State Fire Marshal shall review the effectiveness of this section and report every three years to the Legislature the State Fire Marshal's findings and, if appropriate, recommendations for legislation to improve the effectiveness of this section. The report and legislative recommendations shall be submitted electronically no later than November 15 each three-year period.(7) The requirements of subsection (1) of this section shall not prohibit wholesale or retail dealers from selling their existing inventory of cigarettes on or after January 1, 2010, if the wholesale or retail dealer can establish that state tax stamps were affixed to the cigarettes prior to such date and if the wholesale or retail dealer can establish that the inventory was purchased prior to such date in comparable quantity to the inventory purchased during the same period of the prior year.(8) The Reduced Cigarette Ignition Propensity Act shall be implemented in accordance with the implementation and substance of the New York Fire Safety Standards for Cigarettes as such standards existed on January 1, 2009.Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 69-503
Laws 2009, LB 198, § 3; Laws 2012, LB 782, § 98.