Sanctions
(1) A person who contravenes regulation 6(1) is liable to sanctions in accordance with regulations 20B and 21(2).
(2) For the purposes of these Regulations—
(a) a Category A contravention means supplying 99 or fewer units of tobacco products in contravention of paragraph (1);
(b) a Category B contravention means supplying 100 or more such units of tobacco products but fewer than 300;
(c) a Category C contravention means supplying 300 or more such units of tobacco products but fewer than 500;
(d) a Category D contravention means supplying 500 or more such units of tobacco products;
(e) a second contravention is one that occurs before the end of 24 months beginning with the date of the first contravention;
(f) a third contravention is one that occurs before the end of 24 months beginning with the date of the second contravention;
(g) a subsequent contravention is any contravention that occurs after the third contravention and before the end of 24 months beginning with the date of a previous contravention.
(3) For the purposes of this regulation—
(a) the date of a contravention is the date on which the supply of products in contravention of regulation 6(1) is discovered by—
(i) the Commissioners; or
(ii) a person investigating compliance in accordance with regulation 24A;
(b) where a person contravenes regulation 6(1) and that contravention occurs more than 24 months after any previous contravention, that contravention is a first contravention for the purposes of this regulation;
(c) in determining whether a contravention is a second, third or subsequent contravention, no account is to be taken of a previous contravention in respect of which a penalty under regulation 20B was not imposed.
(4) In this regulation “ unit of tobacco products ” means—
(a) 20 cigarettes (whether or not they are packaged in packs of 20); or
(b) 30 grams of hand-rolling tobacco.
Penalties
(1) A penalty may be imposed by the Commissioners for a contravention of regulation 6(1) as follows.
(2) For a first contravention the penalty is—
(a) Category A: £2,500;
(b) Category B: £5,000;
(c) Category C: £7,500;
(d) Category D: £10,000.
(3) For a second contravention the penalty is—
(a) Category A: £5,000;
(b) Category B: £7,500;
(c) Categories C and D: £10,000.
(4) For a third and any subsequent contravention the penalty is—
(a) Category A: £7,500;
(b) Categories B, C and D: £10,000.
(5) The penalty must be paid—
(a) in accordance with the requirements of a notice issued under regulation 20C; and
(b) no later than 30 days beginning with the date of issue of the notice.
(6) A penalty under this regulation is to be treated as an amount of duty due from the person liable for the penalty under the Tobacco Products Duty Act 1979, and may be recovered accordingly.
(7) Where more than one person is liable to a penalty for a contravention of regulation 6(1), the penalty may be imposed on any one of them.
(8) A person is not liable to a penalty under this regulation in respect of any failure or action in respect of which the person has been convicted of an offence under any provision of the customs and excise Acts.
Penalty notices
(1) When a penalty is imposed under regulation 20B, the Commissioners must issue a penalty notice to the person on whom the penalty is imposed.
(2) The penalty notice must be issued within 12 months beginning with the date on which evidence of facts, sufficient in the opinion of the Commissioners to indicate the contravention, comes to the knowledge of the Commissioners, and must specify—
(a) the date and particulars of the contravention;
(b) the amount of the penalty and details of how, by when, and to whom the penalty must be paid; and
(c) a warning about potential sanctions for further contraventions, including deactivation of the economic operator identifier code, where applicable, and the possibility of the forfeiture of compliant products.
Forfeiture
(1) Where a person fails to comply with any requirement in these Regulations or the Commission Implementing Regulation in relation to tobacco products or an item of aggregate packaging, those products or items of packaging are liable to forfeiture.
(2) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, where a person has contravened regulation 6(1), any tobacco product that is held by that person at the time the contravention is discovered by the Commissioners or anyone acting on their behalf, (whether or not the product meets the requirements of regulation 6(2) to (4)) is liable to forfeiture.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2) a tobacco product that meets the requirements of regulation 6(2) to (4) (a “compliant product”) is liable to forfeiture where—
(a) the contravention of regulation 6(1) is a second, third or subsequent contravention;
(b) the penalty notice for the previous contravention contained a warning about the forfeiture of compliant products;
(c) the compliant product is at the facility where the contravention occurred; and
(d) the compliant product is a business asset.
(4) In this regulation—
(a) “ business asset ” means an asset that the Commissioners have reason to believe is owned or used in connection with the carrying on of a business by any person;
(b) “ tobacco product ” means any tobacco product in respect of which regulation 6 has effect at the time of the forfeiture (see regulation 1(4)).
Compliance notices
(1) If an officer is satisfied that a person is not complying with one or more of the requirements in these Regulations or the Commission Implementing Regulation, the officer may give the person a notice requiring the person to remedy the non-compliance.
(2) A notice under paragraph (1) must—
(a) state that the officer is satisfied that there is or has been a contravention of the requirements in these Regulations or the Commission Implementing Regulation,
(b) specify the requirements that are or have been contravened,
(c) give reasons in support of the statement referred to in sub-paragraph (a), and
(d) specify the period within which the person is required to remedy the non-compliance.
Reasonable excuse
(1) Liability to a sanction does not arise under regulation 20B or 21(2) if the person satisfies the Commissioners or (on an appeal made to the appeal tribunal) the tribunal that there is a reasonable excuse for the contravention.
(2) For the purposes of this regulation a reasonable excuse includes that the person did not know, and had no reasonable grounds to suspect, that the tobacco products did not meet the requirements of regulation 6(2) to (4).
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (legislation.gov.uk).
