Sale and purchase of tobacco and nicotine vapour products
Section 2 – Sale of nicotine vapour products to persons under 18
11.Section 2(1) inserts a section 4A (sale of nicotine vapour products to persons under 18) into the 2010 Act.
12.Section 4A(1) makes it an offence for a person to sell an NVP to a person under the age of 18. The person who sells can be an individual (e.g. an employee) or a legal person (e.g. a body corporate) or both depending on the circumstances; where it is a legal person then section 34 (offences by bodies corporate etc.) of the 2010 Act may be relevant.
13.Section 4A(2) provides a defence for a person accused of an offence under section 4(1) where that person believed the customer was aged 18 or over and took reasonable steps to establish the customer’s age. The reasonable steps are those provided for in section 4A(3). This includes being shown identification such as a passport, a driving licence or such other identification as may be prescribed in regulations made subject to negative procedure (by virtue of section 40(3) of the 2010 Act) by the Scottish Ministers (section 4A(4)). Section 4(5) provides that the penalty for committing the offence in section 4A(1) is, on summary conviction, a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (currently £2,500).
Section 3 – Age verification policy
14.Section 3(1) of the Act inserts section 4B (age verification policy) into the 2010 Act.
15.Section 4B(1) and (2) require a person who carries on a tobacco or NVP business to operate an age verification policy at every premises where such a business is being carried on, but it does not include distance sales (for example, it does not apply to premises, such as a warehouse used to service internet sales, which are used only to despatch tobacco or NVPs). Section 35 (interpretation) of the 2010 Act contains a definition of “tobacco business”. Section 8(2) of the Act inserts into section 35 of the 2010 Act definitions of “nicotine vapour product business” and “tobacco or nicotine vapour product business”. The businesses referred to by these definitions only involve the sale of products by retail.
16.Section 4B(3) defines an “age verification policy”. It involves the person selling taking steps to challenge the age of a customer buying a tobacco product or an NVP who appears to that person to be under the age of 25 or such older age as may be specified in the policy. Section 4A(4) provides the Scottish Ministers with a power to make regulations to amend the age (up or down) referred to in subsection (3).
17.Section 4B(5) provides that the Scottish Ministers may issue guidance on matters relating to age verification policies. It sets out a number of things which, in particular, the guidance may contain. The guidance is intended to assist retailers to operate an age verification policy e.g. by setting out appropriate identification which young-looking customers should be asked to produce. Guidance can also cover related matters e.g. training. Section 4B(6) requires a person operating a policy to have regard to the guidance; this means a person must have regard to the guidance when establishing a policy and thereafter during the operation of the policy.
18.Section 4B(7) provides that a person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale (currently £500).
19.Section 3(2) of the Act amends section 40(4) (orders and regulations) of the 2010 Act to make any regulations made under section 4B(4) subject to affirmative procedure.
Section 4 – Sale by persons under 18
20.Section 4(1) of the Act inserts section 4C (sale of tobacco or nicotine vapour products by persons under 18) into the 2010 Act.
21.Section 4C(1) makes it an offence for a responsible person to allow the unauthorised sale of tobacco products or NVPs by a person under the age of 18. In accordance with section 4C(2) the “responsible person” is the registered person, where premises from which the sale is made is noted in the Register against that person’s name, or where the premises is unregistered it is the employer of the person who made the sale and/or a person having management and control of the premises. Section 4C(3) provides an exception to the offence, which allows persons under 18 to make sales where a registered person has authorised a person under 18 to make sales at the premises noted in the Register against that registered person’s name.
22.Section 4C(4) requires the authorisation to be recorded and kept at premises where a person under 18 has been authorised to make sales. Section 4C(5) enables the Scottish Ministers by regulations to prescribe the form and content of authorisations, and the method of how authorisations must be recorded.
23.If an authorisation is not recorded and kept in accordance with section 4C(4) and regulations made under section 4C(5), then section 4C(6) provides that the authorisation is deemed not to have been made. That means the person under 18 is not authorised and the responsible person is liable for the offence under section 4C(1) if the responsible person allows the person under 18 to make a sale.
24.Section 4C(7) provides that a responsible person who commits an offence under section 4C(1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale (currently £200).
Section 5 – Defence of due diligence for certain offences
25.Section 5(1) of the Act inserts section 4D (defence of due diligence for certain offences) into the 2010 Act.
26.Section 4D(1) and (2) provides a due diligence defence for a person (or any employee or agent of that person) charged with the offence of—
selling a tobacco product to a person under the age of 18 (in section 4(1) of the 2010 Act),
selling a NVP to someone under the age of 18 (in section 4A(1) of the 2010 Act, inserted by section 2 of this Act), or
allowing the sale of a tobacco product or NVP by an unauthorised person under 18 (in section 4C(1) of the 2010 Act, inserted by section 4 of this Act).
27.The defence is that the accused (or the employee or agent of that person, as the case may be) took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to prevent the offence from being committed.
Section 6 – Purchase of nicotine vapour products on behalf of persons under 18
28.Section 6(1) of the Act inserts section 6A (purchase of nicotine vapour products on behalf of persons under 18) into the 2010 Act.
29.Section 6A(1) makes it an offence for a person aged 18 or over to buy or attempt to buy a NVP on behalf of a person aged under 18. This is commonly known as a ‘proxy purchase’ offence. Section 6A(2) provides that a person who commits this offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000).
Section 7 – Extension of vending machine prohibition
30.Section 7 of the Act contains an enabling power for the Scottish Ministers to make regulations to amend section 9 (prohibition of vending machines for the sale of tobacco products) of the 2010 Act so that it includes vending machines for the sale of NVPs. The effect of such an amendment would be to make a person who has the management or control of premises on which a vending machine for the sale of NVPs is available commit an offence and be liable to the penalty set out in section 9(2) of the 2010 Act (on summary conviction a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale, currently £2,500).
