ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The United States Postal Service has finalized a rule that will no longer allow vaping products to be delivered through the U.S. mail, according to Vaping360. The ruling applies to both nicotine and cannabis products and takes effect immediately.

The rule was required by updates to the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act, which Congress passed last December to close the loophole in the current law that allowed minors to access electronic cigarettes through the internet without in-person age verification.

The new rule exempts business-to-business shipments, as well as shipping to consumers within the borders of Alaska and Hawaii. Private citizens can ship between each other, but no more than 10 packages within a 30-day period, and the packages can’t weigh more than 10 ounces. They have to use the USPS’ specified services that include an adult signature requirement. Consumers also can send a “damaged or unacceptable” product back to a manufacturer or seller.

NACS championed legislative action to require online sellers of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products to ensure that the delivery person checks the ID of an adult upon delivery and require online sellers of cigarettes to collect and remit the appropriate taxes. That legislation, the Preventing All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, became law in 2010. However, as the e-cigarette market grew, NACS successfully advocated for the update to the PACT Act to include e-cigarettes.

NACS strongly supported the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act because it updated the original PACT Act to include e-cigarette and vapor products, requiring online sellers of the products to ensure an in-person ID check occurs at delivery.

“NACS and its members believe it is only right that the same measures that are required to verify age when traditional cigarettes are purchased online apply to vape products,” said Anna Ready Blom, NACS director of government relations. “That is why we worked so hard to help pass the update to the law.”