Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991
Children and Young Persons(Protection from Tobacco)Act 1991
1991 CHAPTER 23
An Act to increase the penalties for the sale of tobacco to persons under the age of 16 years; to make other amendments of section 7 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and section 18 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937; to prohibit the sale of unpackaged cigarettes; to require the publication of warning statements in retail premises and on vending machines; to make provision with respect to enforcement action by local authorities relating to offences connected with the sale of tobacco and to other matters; and for connected purposes.
[27th June 1991]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Amendment of section 7 of the Children and Young Person Act 1933.
(1) Section 7 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (sale of tobacco, etc. to persons under 16) shall be amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1)—
(a) the word ‘apparently’ shall be omitted; and
(b) for the words from ‘on summary conviction’ onwards there shall be substituted ‘on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.’
(3) After subsection (1) there shall be inserted—
(1A) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) above to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.’
(4) In subsection (2)—
(a) for ‘is being extensively used by persons apparently’ there shall be substituted ‘has been used by any person’; and
(b) for the words from ‘to a fine’ onwards there shall be substituted ‘to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.’
2 Amendment of section 18 of the Children and Young Persons \(Scotland) Act 1937.
(1) Section 18 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 (sale of tobacco, etc. to persons under 16) shall be amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1)—
(a) the word ‘apparently’ shall be omitted; and
(b) for the words from ‘on summary conviction’ onwards there shall be substituted ‘on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.’
(3) After subsection (1) there shall be inserted—
(1A) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) above to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.’
(4) In subsection (2)—
(a) for ‘is being extensively used by persons apparently’ there shall be substituted ‘has been used by any person’; and
(b) for the words from ‘to a fine’ onwards there shall be substituted ‘to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.’
3 Sale of unpackaged cigarettes.
(1) It shall be an offence for any person carrying on a retail business to sell cigarettes to any person other than in pre-packed quantities of 10 or more cigarettes in their original package.
(2) Any person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) above shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(3) In this section ‘original package’ means the package in which the cigarettes were supplied for the purpose of retail sale by the manufacturer or importer; and ‘package’ means any box, carton or other container.
4 Display of warning statements in retail premises and on vending machines.
(1) A notice displaying the following statement—
‘It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 16’
shall be exhibited at every premises at which tobacco is sold by retail, and shall be so exhibited in a prominent position where the statement is readily visible to persons at the point of sale of the tobacco; and where—
(a) any person carries on a business involving the sale of tobacco by retail at any premises, and
(b) no notice is exhibited at those premises in accordance with this subsection,
that person shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) A notice displaying the following statement—
‘This machine is only for the use of people aged 16 or over’
shall be exhibited on every automatic machine for the sale of tobacco which is kept available for use as such at any premises, and shall be so exhibited in such a way that the statement is readily visible to persons using the machine; and where—
(a) any person is the owner of any such machine which is so kept or the owner of the premises at which any such machine is so kept, and
(b) no notice is exhibited on the machine in accordance with this subsection,
that person shall be guilty of an offence.
(3) The dimensions of the notice to be exhibited in accordance with subsection (1) or (2) above, and the size of the statement to be displayed on it, shall be such as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State; and any such regulations may make different provision for different cases.
(4) Any person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) or (2) above shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(5) It shall be a defence for a person charged with any such offence to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.
(6) Where any such offence is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded...
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