Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts

TOBACCO ACT 1927 - SECT 14

    (1)     A person commits an offence if the person—

        (a)     sells a smoking product to a person who is under 18 years old; and

        (b)     is reckless about whether the person to whom the smoking product is sold is under 18 years old.

Maximum penalty: 200 penalty units.

    (2)     It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against subsection (1) if the defendant proves that—

        (a)     immediately before the smoking product was sold to the person, the defendant (or an employee or agent of the defendant) (the seller ) asked the person to show the seller a document of identification; and

        (b)     the person showed the seller a document of identification; and

        (c)     the seller had no reasonable grounds for believing that the document was not a genuine document of identification of the person.

    (3)     A person commits an offence if the person uses someone else's document of identification, or a forged document of identification, for the purpose of obtaining a smoking product.

Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units.

    (4)     A person may refuse to sell a smoking product to someone else, or to permit someone else to obtain a smoking product, if—

        (a)     the person is not satisfied that the other person is at least 18 years old; or

        (b)     the person considers that the product is sought for use by a person under 18 years old; or

        (c)     the person considers that any identification shown by the other person is not genuine, or has been tampered with.

    (5)     Subsection (4) does not limit the circumstances in which a person may refuse to sell a smoking product, or refuse to permit someone else to obtain a smoking product.

    (6)     In this section:

"document of identification", of a person, means a document that—

        (a)     is—

              (i)     an Australian driver licence or a licence to drive a motor vehicle (however described) issued under the law of an external Territory or a foreign country; or

              (ii)     a proof of age card under the Liquor Act 1975 or a corresponding document issued under the law of a State; or

              (iii)     a passport; and

        (b)     contains a photograph that could reasonably be taken to be of the person; and

        (c)     indicates that the person to whom the document was issued is at least 18 years old.