Model Legislation for Tobacco Control: A policy development

PART 5: LICENSURE
[Legislative text, cont’d:]
Part 5: Licensure
6. Licensing of sellers of tobacco products.
a. License required. No person shall manufacture, import, export, or sell
tobacco products at wholesale without first having a license; provided,
however, that persons engaged in the business of manufacturing,
importing, exporting or selling tobacco products on or before [specify date
to give those currently operating time to apply for a license] shall have a
period of up to [specify number] days from the date this Act comes into
operation to apply for a license. A license, once granted, shall be valid for a
period of [specify number of years] and shall be subject to renewal
thereafter. If the application for an initial license or renewal is denied, the
applicant shall cease manufacturing, importing, exporting, or selling
tobacco products, as the case may be, immediately upon notification of the
application denial, subject to any right to appeal [if appeal rights are
applicable under the country’s laws].
[Note: If it will be feasible to license retailers, “and retail” should be added
after “wholesale” in the first sentence of (a). If retailers will be licensed but it will be
infeasible to license very small retailers, the following text can be provided:]
b. Exemption for small retailers. Notwithstanding the requirement for
licensure in subsection (a), retailers selling tobacco products
shall be exempt from licensure if their tobacco product sales account for
no more than [specify a monetary amount in the aggregate, or specify
a monetary amount as a percentage of total sales of all goods sold by
the retailer].
c. Prohibition against selling to unlicensed sellers. No person shall sell
any tobacco product to any manufacturer, importer, exporter, wholesaler,
retailer [if retailers will be subject to licensure] that does not certify that it
holds a valid license or that it is exempt from licensure, [if an exemption
will be made for small retailers], or that the person knows or has reason
to know does not hold a valid license and is not exempt from licensure.
d. Prohibition against purchasing from unlicensed sellers. No person shall
purchase or take possession of any tobacco product from any
manufacturer, importer, exporter, or wholesaler that does not certify that it
holds a valid license, or that the person knows or has reason to know
does not hold a valid license.
30 MODEL TOBACCO CONTROL LEGISLATION: A POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING MANUAL