Connecticut General Statutes 12-295a – Sale or delivery to minors. Online education program. Civil penalty. Suspension or revocation of license. Removal of vending machine
(a) If the Commissioner of Revenue Services finds, after a hearing, that any person employed by a dealer or distributor, as defined in section 12-285, has sold, given or delivered cigarettes or tobacco products to a person under twenty-one years of age other than a person under twenty-one years of age who is delivering or accepting delivery in such person’s capacity as an employee, said commissioner shall, for the first violation, require such person to successfully complete an online tobacco prevention education program administered by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services not later than thirty days after said commissioner’s finding. Said commissioner shall assess any person who fails to complete such program a civil penalty of two hundred dollars. Said commissioner shall assess any person employed by a dealer or distributor a civil penalty of two hundred fifty dollars for a second or subsequent violation on or before twenty-four months after the date of the first violation.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 12-295a
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- 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) If the Commissioner of Revenue Services finds, after a hearing, that any dealer or distributor has sold, given or delivered cigarettes or a tobacco product to a person under twenty-one years of age other than a person under twenty-one years of age who is delivering or accepting delivery in such person’s capacity as an employee, or such dealer or distributor’s employee has sold, given or delivered cigarettes or a tobacco product to such person, said commissioner shall require such dealer or distributor, for the first violation, to successfully complete an online tobacco prevention education program administered by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services not later than thirty days after said commissioner’s finding. Said commissioner shall assess any dealer or distributor who fails to complete such program a civil penalty of three hundred dollars. Said commissioner shall assess any dealer or distributor a civil penalty of seven hundred fifty dollars for a second violation on or before twenty-four months after the date of the first violation. For a third violation on or before twenty-four months after the date of the first violation, said commissioner shall assess such dealer or distributor a civil penalty of one thousand dollars and suspend any license held by such dealer or distributor under this chapter for not less than thirty days. For a fourth violation on or before twenty-four months after the date of the first violation, said commissioner shall assess such dealer or distributor a civil penalty of one thousand dollars and revoke any license issued to such dealer or distributor under this chapter. Said commissioner shall order such distributor or dealer to conspicuously post a notice in a public place within such distributor’s or dealer’s establishment stating that cigarettes and tobacco products cannot be sold during the period of such suspension or revocation and the reasons for such suspension or revocation. Any sale of cigarettes or a tobacco product by such dealer or distributor during such suspension or revocation shall be deemed an additional violation of this subsection.
(c) If the Commissioner of Revenue Services finds, after a hearing, that any owner of an establishment in which a cigarette vending machine or restricted cigarette vending machine is located has sold, given or delivered cigarettes or tobacco products from any such machine to a person under twenty-one years of age other than a person under twenty-one years of age who is delivering or accepting delivery in such person’s capacity as an employee, or has allowed cigarettes or tobacco products to be sold, given or delivered to such person from any such machine, said commissioner shall require such owner, for the first violation, to successfully complete an online tobacco prevention education program administered by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services not later than thirty days after said commissioner’s finding. Said commissioner shall assess any owner who fails to complete such program a civil penalty of five hundred dollars. Said commissioner shall assess any owner a civil penalty of seven hundred fifty dollars for a second violation on or before twenty-four months after the date of the first violation. For a third violation on or before twenty-four months after the date of the first violation, said commissioner shall assess such owner a civil penalty of one thousand dollars and immediately remove any such machine from such establishment and no such machine may be placed in such establishment for a period of one year following such removal.
(d) Any person aggrieved by any action of the commissioner pursuant to this section may take any appeal of such action as provided in sections 12-311 and 12-312.