By CBDINSTOCK MEDIA TEAM | September 23, 2026
Hawaii has given electronic-smoking-device and e-liquid manufacturers until October 1, 2026, to deliver their first annual directory certification. A pending FDA application does not qualify. Act 190 requires a copy of a marketing-granted order for each product presented for listing.
If the product does not have the required federal order, photographs and SKU sheets cannot make it eligible.
The four operative dates
- July 1, 2026: Acts 189 and 190 took effect.
- September 1, 2026: Act 229 took effect, giving the Attorney General and the tax department power to inspect retailers and seize tobacco products, including electronic smoking devices and e-liquids, and treating untaxed products as contraband.
- October 1, 2026: manufacturers must deliver the first Act 190 certification and do so annually thereafter.
- January 1, 2027: the state is scheduled to publish its electronic-smoking-device and e-liquid directory. The restriction on unlisted products begins January 1 or when the directory becomes available for public inspection, whichever is later. Act 189’s separate prohibition also begins January 1.
Calling all of this a disposable-vape ban loses the part businesses need now. Act 190 is a product-directory law. It reaches covered electronic smoking devices and e-liquids sold in Hawaii, whether the manufacturer sells directly or through an importer, distributor, wholesaler, retailer or another intermediary.
The filing requires an FDA marketing-granted order
Act 190 requires the manufacturer to certify, under penalty of perjury, that it has received an FDA marketing-granted order for the electronic smoking device or e-liquid. The filing must include a copy of that order.
The statute does not offer an alternative for a product whose premarket tobacco product application has merely been submitted, accepted or placed under review. Those milestones are not marketing authorization.
The product list must identify the brand name, product name, category and flavor. Act 190 names four categories: disposable electronic smoking device, power unit, device and e-liquid.
Act 190 charges $1,000 for each product each time a manufacturer submits a certification form for it. The published materials do not say whether each flavor, UPC or packaging variant counts as a separate product, or whether a supplemental packaging filing triggers another fee.
The manufacturer must also report a material change within 30 days. The statute specifically points to an FDA denial, another FDA order or action, or a court action that affects whether the product may be introduced into interstate commerce.
The current form goes beyond a four-field product list
Hawaii’s certification form and instructions, revised August 11, build a field-identification record around each listed product.
For each product, the form asks for UPC and SKU information alongside brand, product, category and characterizing flavor. It requires clear color images of every side of the physical packaging, with the UPC visible and legible. The instructions call for separate coverage of packaging variations, including differences in package count, tracking code, visual design and kits or multipacks.
The instructions also say a new color copy must be submitted before modified packaging or a special or limited-edition design is distributed. Artwork changes can therefore require a new submission even when the underlying device does not change.
The submission must be notarized. Required supporting material includes the FDA order, the fee, the packaging evidence and a PACT Act registration statement. The form also asks for Hawaii general-excise-tax and tobacco-license numbers.
A nonresident or foreign manufacturer that has not registered to do business in Hawaii as a foreign entity must appoint, and keep without interruption, an agent in the United States for service of process. The current form says proof of appointment and availability must come directly from that agent.
The instructions say the package must be delivered by October 1; they do not describe a postmark deadline.
A listed brand does not clear every product
Hawaii’s Attorney General warns that a listed manufacturer or brand does not mean every one of its products may be sold. Businesses will need to compare the exact brand, product, category and flavor against the public record.
A familiar housing with a different pod, flavor, package count or presentation may not match the shelf-level record. The instructions say the packaging images are required “to allow for field identification.”
For manufacturers, an unlisted product placed into the Hawaii market can trigger a $10,000 civil penalty for each individual electronic smoking device or e-liquid described by the law. False statements on a certification can also carry misdemeanor exposure.
For a dealer, distributor, importer, retailer, wholesaler or similar intermediary, the first Act 190 penalty is $500 for each individual unlisted product acquired, possessed, transported, kept, sold or offered for sale. The ranges rise for repeat violations within 12 months. Unlisted inventory can also be seized, forfeited and destroyed, with seizure and disposal costs borne by the person from whom it was taken.
The statute contains no general sell-through period for stock bought before January 1.
Act 189 uses a narrower disposable-device test
Act 189 is separate. It prohibits the sale, offer for sale or distribution for sale of a “disposable electronic smoking device” beginning January 1, 2027.
The definition requires all of the following:
- the device is non-refillable;
- it has a non-rechargeable battery; and
- it is intended to be disposed of after its contents are used.
A device with an FDA marketing-granted order is excluded from that definition.
The non-rechargeable element means the text does not describe every product commonly marketed as a disposable. A rechargeable, non-refillable device can fall outside Act 189. If it has no FDA order, it still cannot be listed under Act 190, so the narrower definition does not make it sellable.
Act 189 uses a different penalty structure: the sale, offer or distribution of one to 20 covered devices constitutes a violation, punishable by up to $100 per day for each violation. Where a product is both an Act 189 disposable and absent from the directory, the Attorney General’s FAQ says the two enforcement frameworks can apply separately.
What intermediaries can check before January
The directory will not be public until January under the state’s current schedule, so a distributor or retailer cannot confirm a listing before then. The evidence available in the meantime is what the manufacturer can show: the FDA order for the exact product and flavor, the UPCs and packaging it certified, and proof the filing was delivered. Stock that is not on the list when it goes live is subject to the per-item penalties and seizure described above.
Nicotine is not the only scope line
Hawaii’s e-liquid definition covers a liquid or similar substance designed or intended for an electronic smoking device whether or not it contains nicotine. Removing nicotine does not, by itself, remove the product from Act 190.
The same definition excludes prescription drugs, cannabis for medical use under chapter 329, manufactured cannabis products under chapter 329D, and specified medical devices used with prescription drugs or manufactured cannabis products.
The cannabis exclusions sit inside the e-liquid definition. The electronic-smoking-device definition, which Acts 189 and 190 take from HRS § 245-1, excludes FDA-authorized drugs, devices and combination products; on its face, it otherwise reaches a device that can deliver any aerosolized or vaporized substance. The device-related carve-out for medical devices used with prescription drugs, including specified manufactured cannabis products, appears in the e-liquid definition rather than the device definition. Hemp-derived liquids are not named in the exclusions.
Neither the statute nor the Attorney General’s published materials say whether an empty 510 cartridge, an all-in-one or a standalone battery sold for a Hawaii medical-cannabis product must be listed. Act 190 does not define “manufacturer,” and the instructions reserve the state’s right to treat a product variant as made by a different manufacturer. Neither says which company in an OEM or white-label chain must file. For hardware without an FDA order, the October 1 filing is unavailable either way; the unresolved question is whether the January restriction reaches it.
CBDINSTOCK is affiliated with ILEVA, which supplies empty 510 cartridges and all-in-one hardware to cannabis-oil manufacturers and brands, the category whose Hawaii status this article describes as unresolved. This article is analysis of public records, not legal advice.
