The Tobacco Products (Descriptions of Products) Order 2003

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Tobacco Products (Descriptions of Products) Order 2003 and comes into force on 1st August 2003.

Interpretation

2.  In this Order “the Act” means the Tobacco Products Duty Act 1979.

Repeal and revocation

3.—(1) Subsections (2) and (2A) of section 1 of the Act(1) are repealed.

(2) The Tobacco Products (Cigarettes and Cigars) Order 1977(2) is revoked.

Cigarettes

4.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, references to cigarettes in the Act include any product that comprises—

(a) rolls of tobacco capable of being smoked as they are and that are not cigars, or

(b) rolls of tobacco that, by simple non-industrial handling, are—

(i) inserted into cigarette-paper tubes, or

(ii) wrapped in cigarette paper.

(2) References to cigarettes in the Act include products consisting in whole or in part of substances other than tobacco that otherwise conform to a description in paragraph (1) above, unless they are herbal smoking products.

Cigars

5.  References to cigars in the Act include any product that is described in the Schedule below and do not include tobacco products of any other description.

Hand-rolling tobacco

6.—(1) References to hand-rolling tobacco in the Act include any product that would, but for the reference to hand-rolling tobacco in article 7(1) below, be other smoking tobacco and—

(a) in which more than 25% by weight of the tobacco particles have a cut width of less than 1 millimetre, or

(b) that is sold or intended to be sold for making into cigarettes by hand, or

(c) that is of a kind used for making into cigarettes by hand.

(2) In this regulation—

(a) the references to “making into cigarettes by hand” in paragraph (1)(b) and (c) above include making into cigarettes by hand with the aid of a mechanical device, and

(b) the use for making into cigarettes referred to in paragraph (1)(c) above must amount to more than occasional use but need not amount to common use.

Other smoking tobacco

7.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, references to other smoking tobacco in the Act include any product that is not cigarettes, cigars, or hand-rolling tobacco and comprises—

(a) tobacco that has been cut or otherwise split, twisted or pressed into blocks, and is capable of being smoked without further industrial processing, or

(b) tobacco refuse put up for retail sale that can be smoked.

(2) References to other smoking tobacco in the Act include products consisting in whole or in part of substances other than tobacco that otherwise conform to a description in paragraph (1) above, unless they are herbal smoking products.

Chewing tobacco

8.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, references to chewing tobacco in the Act include any product that—

(a) is not cigarettes, cigars, hand-rolling tobacco, or other smoking tobacco,

(b) consists of or includes tobacco, and

(c) has been prepared so that it can be chewed.

(2) References to chewing tobacco in the Act include any product prepared for chewing that does not include tobacco but consists in whole or in part of a substitute for tobacco, except for such a product that is intended solely as an aid to persons to give up smoking.

Philip Woolas

John Heppell

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

5th June 2003