MINISTRY OF HEALTH MANATU HAUORA UNDER

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1 MINISTRY OF HEALTH MANATU HAUORA UNDER

2 MINISTRY OF HEALTH MANATu HAUORA Published in June 1999 by the Ministry of Health, Manatū Hauora PO Box 5013, Wellington ISBN (Booklet) ISBN (Internet) This document is available on the Ministry of Health s Web site: 2

3 Selling tobacco to young people your questions Most retailers will know that the Ministry of Health and smokefree officers are checking to make sure cigarettes and tobacco are not being sold to people under 18. We are doing this by having young volunteers go into shops and ask to buy cigarettes. This information sheet is to answer some questions that retailers commonly ask about young volunteers trying to buy cigarettes and tobacco. Why should it be the retailer s responsibility to make sure someone buying cigarettes is 18? Parliament is concerned about the number of young people who smoke and, in July 1997, passed a law to make it illegal to sell cigarettes to people under 18. When a retailer decides to sell tobacco, he or she is also accepting responsibility for selling it within the laws set out by the Smoke-free Environments Act Why is the Ministry of Health getting young people to do its work for it? Surveys have shown that, unfortunately, some retailers do sell tobacco to minors. The assistance of volunteers is the only reliable way to ensure that enough evidence is gathered to take a retailer to court if they break the law. Before the assistance of volunteers, only two prosecutions were taken against retailers for selling tobacco to young people despite smokefree officers getting many complaints from the public about illegal sales to minors. 3

4 It s hard to judge the age of young people When you are not sure about the age of a young person trying to buy cigarettes, ask to see some identification. The best ID is one that includes a picture of the young person. Simply asking a young person their age, and then selling them tobacco if they say they are 18, is unlikely to be enough to protect you from being taken to court. If you doubt that the young person is telling the truth, you should ask for ID. If they cannot provide ID, don t sell to them. There should be a standard photo ID throughout New Zealand Many retailers have said that their job would be made much easier if there was a standard photo ID available in New Zealand. Some local bodies have produced their own ID cards which are increasingly being used by young people. Other forms of identification include student ID, birth certificate, passport etc. People get rude and abusive when I won t sell cigarettes to them Some people get very upset when a retailer doubts their age and refuses to sell them cigarettes or alcohol. Unfortunately, this will happen occasionally when you stock a restricted product. If anyone gets really abusive or threatening, you should consider calling the police. Is the use of volunteers entrapment? It is not entrapment when a Ministry of Health volunteer buys cigarettes. The retailer has the option to refuse to sell to the volunteer. Ministry of Health volunteers clearly look under 18 and most retailers do not sell to them. 4

5 In February 1998, a Judge in Invercargill ruled that the use of an under age volunteer was entrapment. This ruling was tied closely to the facts of the case. This specific set of circumstances is unlikely to occur again. Since the Invercargill ruling, some retailers have tried to use a defence of entrapment in court after they have sold to a volunteer. In all cases this defence has not been accepted by any Judge. Legal advice received by the Ministry of Health from the Crown Law Office confirms that the assistance of an under age volunteer is not entrapment. Is a retailer of a shop liable when another person working in the premises sells the cigarettes? Yes, owners can be held liable in respect of sales by agents/ employees, even where they were not present at the time of the sale. Therefore, it is the duty of all retailers to ensure that their staff are fully aware of the law. It is recommended that shops have a written policy on the sale of cigarettes to people under 18 and that this policy is continually discussed and followed up with staff to ensure that it is being followed. These steps will help reduce the likelihood of owners and managers being liable for unlawful sales of cigarettes. Why isn t it against the law for people under 18 to buy cigarettes? When the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Act 1997 was being considered by Parliament, some people suggested that it should be illegal for people under 18 to buy cigarettes. They said that it wasn t fair that retailers could be fined for selling tobacco to young people, but young people couldn t be fined for buying it. After a lot of debate, Parliament decided that making it illegal for young people to buy cigarettes was unlikely to have a significant 5

6 effect on smoking by young people. In contrast, laws forbidding retailers to sell cigarettes to young people had been shown to reduce sales to minors in a number of countries. Why doesn t the Government just ban cigarettes and tobacco? It is possible that if tobacco was introduced today it might be banned. However, tobacco has been available in New Zealand for more than 100 years, and banning it now is not a viable option at this point in time. If tobacco were banned, a black market would most likely spring up, and the Government would face enforcement problems similar to those it faces with the growing or manufacture, and sale of illegal drugs. Governments around the world agree that placing restrictions on the sale of tobacco (such as not selling it to people under 18), educating people about the negative health effects of smoking and urging them to quit, are effective ways to reduce smoking rates. Tobacco taxation has also been shown to be very effective in reducing smoking. Is this new enforcement working? Since increased enforcement began in 1996, sales of tobacco products to the Ministry of Health s volunteers have fallen to below 5 percent. A survey carried out before the increased enforcement suggests that illegal tobacco sales to volunteers were as high as 30 percent. A 1992 survey found that 95 percent of 14- and 15-year-olds found it easy or very easy to buy cigarettes. 6

7 REMEMBER: UNDER if you doubt a person s age and they don t have sufficient ID, don t sell cigarettes or tobacco to them the maximum fine for selling tobacco to someone under 18 is $2,000 retailers must also display a sign that states that the sale of tobacco to people under 18 is not allowed. The Ministry of Health and smokefree officers congratulate the majority of retailers who follow these rules and sell tobacco according to the law. For more information about your obligations under the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990, contact a smokefree officer at your local public health service. 7

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