(USA TODAY) -- The Food and Drug Administration announced regulations Thursday that ban the sale and marketing of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products to people younger than 18 -- measures that, for the most part, already have been implemented by the states.

Anti-smoking groups say the most significant aspect of the FDA's action, which goes into effect June 22, is that it marks the beginning of an era in which tobacco restrictions carry the federal government's weight.

The FDA crafted the regulations in the mid-1990s, but the Supreme Court set them aside in 2000 because, it said, the agency lacked the authority from Congress to regulate tobacco. On June 22, President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which empowered the FDA to regulate tobacco.

Under the act, the FDA last year banned the sale of clove- and fruit-flavored cigarettes, which appealed to young smokers. On March 30-31, the FDA's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee will review scientific evidence about the use of menthol cigarettes, which are still on the market.

The provisions announced Thursday can be found at www.fda.gov/protectingkidsfromtobacco.

They prohibit:

*Sales of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to people under 18.

*Sales of cigarette packages with fewer than 20 cigarettes.

*Sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in vending machines.

*Tobacco brand-name sponsorship of any "athletic, musical or other social or cultural event."

*The sale or distribution of hats and T-shirts that have tobacco brands or logos.

"What's important to note is that virtually everything codified in the announcement today is already in place," R.J. Reynolds Tobacco spokesman David Howard says. He says his company looks forward to working with the FDA on cutting tobacco use in young people, "because we believe that cooperation and open dialogue is the best approach."

Ellen Vargyas, general counsel for the American Legacy Foundation, acknowledges that most of the new FDA rules "are also found elsewhere." Vargyas' organization was created as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, which was reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. She says, "What this does, which is very important, is put (restrictions) into the federal law."

Eric Lindblom at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says the FDA regulations target all cigarette and smokeless-tobacco manufacturers, not just the ones that signed the settlement agreement.

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