Legislation led by U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) would provide increasingly strict civil penalties for fraudulent or negligent imports of unauthorized electronic nicotine delivery systems, most commonly known as vape products.
“China is flooding our country with illegal vape products designed to hook our kids, and as a mom to teenage boys, I refuse to sit back and let that happen,” Rep. Hinson said on May 14. “These illegal vapes contain dangerous chemicals and shockingly high amounts of nicotine, yet China is pushing them on American kids while banning them at home. That cannot continue.”
The congresswoman on May 7 sponsored the Eliminating Nefarious Distribution of Smuggled (ENDS) Chinese Vapes Act of 2026, H.R. 8687, to bolster enforcement against illicit vape imports and to impose tougher civil penalties on bad actors who knowingly bring illicit Chinese vape products into the United States.
Specifically, H.R. 8687 would establish escalated civil penalties, including $500 per vape unit for violations involving ordinary negligence; $1,000 per vape unit for violations involving gross negligence; and $5,000 per vape unit for violations involving fraud or knowing mislabeling, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Hinson’s staff.
Penalties would double if the shipment involves trans-shipment, false country-of-origins declarations, or other evasion tactics, the summary says, and penalties would triple for repeat offenders within a three-year period. The combined penalty would be capped at 1,000 percent of the shipment’s estimated retail value in the U.S.
“This bill ramps up enforcement and ensures bad actors that are targeting American kids face serious consequences,” said Rep. Hinson.
H.R. 8687 is the companion bill to the same-named S. 4303, sponsored on April 15 by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).