ABTC said it is conducting public education and quarterly sting operations on Saipan, Tinian and Rota, not only to ensure compliance but to find out if retailers are complying with the law prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors.
“We have formatted a database to monitor the flow of new and repeated violators and study how we can create other programs and strategies in combating the illegal sale and use of tobacco products,” ABTC Director David R. Maratita told Variety.
“In spite of all these efforts, reducing the tobacco use among minors continues to be a challenge. Although, we have made progress in the past years toward reducing tobacco related-incidents and getting the youth off cigarettes and other tobacco products,” he added.
Maratita urges retail stores to comply with the law and refuse to sell tobacco products to minors.
Tobacco products are defined in Section 3(b) of Public Law 11-75 as being “any tobacco preparation, including but not limited to, chewing tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, and any cigarette products, or snuff.”
Currently, the following are the civil fines and penalties violators will face:
1st offense – The business establishment shall receive a warning letter;
2nd offense – A maximum fine of $500;
3rd offense – A license suspension of up to seven days;
4th offense – Revocation of the license for up to one year.
Maratita said these penalties “are too lenient” and he is proposing tougher penalties:
1st offense – A maximum fine of $500;
2nd offense – A maximum fine of $1,000 plus a mandatory refresher class;
3rd offense – A maximum fine of $1,500 plus suspension of license of up to seven days;
4th offense – A maximum fine of $2,000 and revocation of license for one year.
Maratita said his division is also proposing certification training for all cashiers on selling tobacco products.
He also wants retail stores to submit a quarterly report on every cigarette sold.
“We need this information for statistics. Currently, we have the statistics for cigarettes sold from the wholesaler to the retailer but not from the retailer to the consumer. So what we really need are statistics on the individual consumption rate of tobacco and we can obtain this information through the quarterly reports. Again, these are only proposals,” Maratita told Variety.
