From February 1 2012, the law will change to make it an offence to sell tobacco products directly to the public from vending machines in Wales.
The Protection from Tobacco (Sales from Vending Machines) (Wales) Regulations 2011 will come into force on 1 February 2012, following concerns about many sales to people under the age of 18, which is believed to be due to the unsupervised nature of the machines. Officers at Flintshire’s Trading Standards Service carried out a test purchasing exercise of the sale of tobacco products from vending machines to a person under the age of 18 and, out of the eight attempted sales, six sales were made, proving how easy it was for an underage person to obtain tobacco products.
The new Regulations will make it a criminal offence to sell cigarettes or tobacco products from an automated vending machine to any person, regardless of the age of the purchaser. In addition to this, it will also be a criminal offence to advertise any tobacco products, or display any pictures of these products from the machine.
Although the sale and advertisement of tobacco products from these machines is prohibited, the legislation does not ban the machine themselves and they can remain in their current position, providing they comply with the legislation, i.e. tobacco products are not sold or advertised from the machine.
The owner or manager of the premises where a vending machine is located will be guilty of an offence if tobacco products are sold from that machine. However, both the owners of the vending machines, and the owners and managers of the premises on which the vending machine is located, will be guilty of an offence if advertisements or pictures of tobacco products are displayed.
Flintshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service wants to ensure local businesses are complying with the Regulations, and it is therefore suggested that you make yourself aware of the new legislation and guidance regarding the changes to tobacco vending machines, as officers will be visiting business premises to ensure compliance.
