101B.4 Test method — performance standard — test reports.

1. a. Testing of cigarettes shall be conducted in accordance with ASTM (American society for testing and materials) international standard E2187-04, standard test method for measuring the ignition strength of cigarettes.

b. The department may adopt a subsequent ASTM international standard test method for measuring the ignition strength of cigarettes upon a finding that the 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 ASTM international standard E2187-04 and the performance standard in this section.

2. Testing shall be conducted on ten layers of filter paper.

3. The performance standard shall require that no more than twenty-five percent of the cigarettes tested in a test trial shall exhibit full-length burns.

4. Forty replicate tests shall comprise a complete test trial for each cigarette tested.

5. The performance standard required by this section shall only be applied to a complete test trial.

6. a. Testing shall be conducted by a laboratory that has been accredited pursuant to international organization for standardization/international electrotechnical commission standard 17025 or other comparable accreditation standard required by the department.

b. Laboratories conducting testing in accordance with this section shall implement a quality control and quality assurance program that includes a procedure that will determine the repeatability of the testing results. The testing repeatability shall be no greater than nineteen one-hundredths.

7. This section shall not require additional testing if cigarettes are tested consistent with this chapter for any other purpose.

8. Each cigarette listed in a certification submitted in accordance with section 101B.5 that uses lowered permeability bands in the cigarette paper to achieve compliance with the performance standard pursuant to 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 either ten millimeters from the filter end of the tobacco column, or ten millimeters from the labeled end of the tobacco column for nonfiltered cigarettes.

9. a. The manufacturer of a cigarette that the department determines cannot be tested in accordance with the test method prescribed in this section shall propose a test method and performance standard for the cigarette to the department. Upon approval of the proposed test method and a determination by the department that the performance standard proposed by the manufacturer is equivalent to the performance standard prescribed in this section, the manufacturer may employ the test method and performance standard to certify the cigarette in accordance with section 101B.5.

b. If the department 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 this chapter and the department 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 subsection, the department shall authorize that manufacturer to employ the alternative test method and performance standard to certify that cigarette for sale in this state, unless the department demonstrates a reasonable basis why the alternative test should not be accepted under this chapter. All other applicable requirements of this chapter shall apply to the manufacturer.

10. A 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 the reports available to the department and the office of the attorney general upon written request.

11. Testing performed or sponsored by the department to determine a cigarette’s compliance with the performance standard required by this section shall be conducted in accordance with this section.

2007 Acts, ch 166, §4; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, §18

Referred to in §101B.2, 101B.3, 101B.5, 101B.8