R.J. Reynolds Gets Graphic Warnings Rule Postponed Again

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and other cigarette makers won’t have to comply with a federal requirement that their packages bear large, graphic warnings until early in 2022 to avoid coronavirus-heightened costs while their challenge to the rule is pending, a federal court in Texas ruled Wednesday.

The new deadline is 90 days beyond a previously extended compliance date, Judge J. Campbell Barker said for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Reynolds, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., ITG Brands LLC, and Liggett Group LLC “now find themselves facing the same imminent compliance costs that the original postponement ...