Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002
| Year | 2002 |
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002
2002 Chapter 36
An Act to control the advertising and promotion of tobacco products; and for connected purposes.
[7th November 2002]
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 Meaning of ‘tobacco advertisement’ and ‘tobacco product’
1 Meaning of ‘tobacco advertisement’ and ‘tobacco product’
In this Act—
‘tobacco advertisement’ means an advertisement—
(a) whose purpose is to promote a tobacco product, or
(b) whose effect is to do so, and
‘tobacco product’ means a product consisting wholly or partly of tobacco and intended to be smoked, sniffed, sucked or chewed.
2 Prohibition of tobacco advertising
(1) A person who in the course of a business publishes a tobacco advertisement, or causes one to be published, in the United Kingdom is guilty of an offence.
(2) A person who in the course of a business prints, devises or distributes in the United Kingdom a tobacco advertisement which is published in the United Kingdom, or causes such a tobacco advertisement to be so printed, devised or distributed, is guilty of an offence.
(3) Distributing a tobacco advertisement includes transmitting it in electronic form, participating in doing so, and providing the means of transmission.
(4) It is not an offence under subsection (1) for a person who does not carry on business in the United Kingdom to publish or cause to be published a tobacco advertisement by means of a website which is accessed in the United Kingdom; and, in that case, devising the advertisement or causing it to be devised is not an offence under subsection (2).
3 Advertising: newspapers, periodicals etc
If a newspaper, periodical or other publication (‘the publication’) containing a tobacco advertisement is in the course of a business published in the United Kingdom—
(a) any proprietor or editor of the publication is guilty of an offence,
(b) any person who (directly or indirectly) procured the inclusion of the advertisement in the publication is guilty of an offence, and
(c) any person who sells the publication, or offers it for sale, or otherwise makes it available to the public, is guilty of an offence.
4 Advertising: exclusions
(1) No offence is committed under section 2 or 3 in relation to a tobacco advertisement—
(a) if it is, or is contained in, a communication made in the course of a business which is part of the tobacco trade, and for the purposes of that trade, and directed solely at persons who—
(i) are engaged in, or employed by, a business which is also part of that trade, and
(ii) fall within subsection (2),
in their capacity as such persons,
(b) if it is, or is contained in, the communication made in reply to a particular request by an individual for information about a tobacco product, or
(c) if it is contained in a publication (other than an in-flight magazine) whose principal market is not the United Kingdom (or any part of it), or if it is contained in any internet version of such a publication.
(2) A person falls within this subsection if—
(a) he is responsible for making decisions on behalf of the business referred to in subsection (1)(a)(i) about the purchase of tobacco products which are to be sold in the course of that business,
(b) he occupies a position in the management structure of the business in question which is equivalent in seniority to, or of greater seniority than, that of any such person, or
(c) he is the person who, or is a member of the board of directors or other body of persons (however described) which, is responsible for the conduct of the business in question.
(3) The appropriate Minister may provide in regulations that no offence is committed under section 2 in relation to a tobacco advertisement which—
(a) is in a place or on a website where tobacco products are offered for sale, and
(b) complies with requirements specified in the regulations.
(4) The regulations may, in particular, provide for the meaning of ‘place’ in subsection (3)(a).
5 Advertising: defences
(1) A person does not commit an offence under section 2 or section 3(a) or (b), in connection with an advertisement whose purpose is to promote a tobacco product, if he did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that the purpose of the advertisement was to promote a tobacco product.
(2) A person does not commit such an offence in connection with an advertisement whose effect is to promote a tobacco product if he could not reasonably have foreseen that that would be the effect of the advertisement.
(3) A person does not commit an offence under section 2(2) or 3(a) or (b) if he did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that the tobacco advertisement would be published in the United Kingdom.
(4) A person does not commit an offence under section 2(2) of distributing or causing the distribution of a tobacco advertisement, otherwise than as mentioned in section 2(3), if he did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that what he distributed or caused to be distributed was, or contained, a tobacco advertisement.
(5) In relation to a tobacco advertisement which is distributed as mentioned in section 2(3), a person does not commit an offence under section 2(2) of distributing it or causing its distribution if—
(a) he was unaware that what he distributed or caused to be distributed was, or contained, a tobacco advertisement,
(b) having become aware of it, it was not reasonably practicable for him to prevent its further distribution, or
(c) he did not carry on business in the United Kingdom at the relevant time.
(6) A person does not commit an offence under section 3(c) if he did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that the publication contained a tobacco advertisement.
6 Specialist tobacconists
(1) A person does not commit an offence under section 2 if the tobacco advertisement—
(a) was in, or fixed to the outside of the premises of, a specialist tobacconist,
(b) was not for cigarettes or hand-rolling tobacco, and
(c) complied with any requirements specified by the appropriate Minister in regulations in relation to tobacco advertisements on the premises of specialist tobacconists.
(2) A specialist tobacconist is a shop selling tobacco products by retail (whether or not it also sells other things) more than half of whose sales on the premises in question derive from the sale of cigars, snuff, pipe tobacco and smoking accessories.
(3) The sales referred to in subsection (2) are to be measured by sale price—
(a) during the most recent period of twelve months for which accounts are available, or
(b) during the period for which the shop has been established, if it has not been established long enough for twelve months' accounts to be available.
(4) ‘Shop’, in subsections (2) and (3), includes a self-contained part of a shop; and, in that case, ‘premises’ in subsections (1) and (2) means that self-contained part of the shop.
7 Developments in technology
The Secretary of State may by order amend any provision of this Act if he considers it appropriate to do so in consequence of any developments in technology relating to publishing or distributing by electronic means.
8 Displays
(1) A person who in the course of a business displays or causes to be displayed tobacco products or their prices in a place or on a website where tobacco products are offered for sale is guilty of an offence if the display does not comply with such requirements (if any) as may be specified by the appropriate Minister in regulations.
(2) It is not an offence under subsection...
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