WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration halted the sale of four types of R. J. Reynolds cigarettes on Tuesday, saying the company failed to prove that they were not more harmful than products already on the market.

The agency ordered retailers who sell any of the cigarettes to stop immediately and to dispose of them within 30 days or face financial penalties or criminal prosecution.

Under a 2009 federal law, the F.D.A. can reject cigarettes and other tobacco products that its scientists believe pose greater public health risks than comparable products on the market, a sharp departure from previous practice, when tobacco companies could change existing products and introduce new ones at will.

The four cigarettes the agency ordered removed on Tuesday — Camel Crush Bold, Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter, Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter Menthol and Vantage Tech 13 — were introduced during a grace period set up by the law that ended in 2011. R. J. Reynolds applied for so-called substantial equivalence status at that time. To be considered substantially equivalent, tobacco products must be shown to have the same characteristics as a product already on the market or, if different, raise no new questions for public health.