Connecticut General Statutes 12-289a – Vending machines: Placement restrictions. Penalties
(a) No cigarette vending machine or restricted cigarette vending machine may be placed in an area, facility or business which may be accessed by persons under the age of twenty-one unless it is placed in an area, facility or business permitted under chapter 545 that has a separate area accessible only to persons twenty-one years of age or older and the machine is placed in such separate area. No cigarettes may be dispensed from any machine other than a cigarette vending machine or a restricted cigarette vending machine.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 12-289a
- Cigarette: means and includes any roll for smoking made wholly or in part of tobacco, irrespective of size or shape, and irrespective of whether the tobacco is flavored, adulterated or mixed with any other ingredient, where such roll has a wrapper or cover made of paper or any other material, except where such wrapper is wholly or in the greater part made of tobacco and such roll weighs over three pounds per thousand, provided, if any roll for smoking has a wrapper made of homogenized tobacco or natural leaf tobacco, and the roll is a cigarette size so that it weighs three pounds or less per thousand, such roll is a cigarette and subject to the tax imposed by this part and part II of this chapter. See Connecticut General Statutes 12-285
- Cigarette vending machine: means a machine used for the purpose of automatically merchandising packaged cigarettes through the insertion of the proper amount of coins therein by the purchaser, but does not mean a restricted cigarette vending machine. See Connecticut General Statutes 12-285
- Dealer: means any person other than a distributor who is engaged in this state in the business of selling cigarettes, including any person operating and servicing fewer than twenty-five cigarette vending machines, and any person who is engaged in the business of selling taxed tobacco products, as defined in section 12-330a, at retail. See Connecticut General Statutes 12-285
- Distributor: means (A) any person in this state engaged in the business of manufacturing cigarettes. See Connecticut General Statutes 12-285
- Person: means any individual, firm, fiduciary, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, trust or association, however formed. See Connecticut General Statutes 12-285
- Restricted cigarette vending machine: means a machine used for the dispensing of packaged cigarettes which automatically deactivates after each individual sale, cannot be left operable after a sale and requires, prior to each individual sale, a face-to-face interaction or display of identification between an employee of the area, facility or business where such machine is located and the purchaser. See Connecticut General Statutes 12-285
(b) The Commissioner of Revenue Services shall assess any person, dealer or distributor who violates the provisions of this section a civil penalty of two hundred fifty dollars for a first violation and five hundred dollars for a second violation within eighteen months. For a third violation within eighteen months, such penalty shall be five hundred dollars and any such machine shall be immediately removed from such area, facility or business and no such machine may be placed in such area, facility or business for a period of one year following such removal.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting a town or municipality from imposing more restrictive conditions on the use of vending machines for the sale of cigarettes. A municipality shall be responsible for the enforcement of such conditions.