Citation and commencement

1.  -(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display of Prices) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 and shall come into operation-

(a)for the purpose of large shops, on 31 October 2012; and

(b)for all other purposes, on 6 April 2015.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation-

“large shop” means a shop which has a relevant floor area exceeding 280 square metres; and

“relevant floor area”, in relation to a shop, means the internal floor area of so much of the shop as consists of, or is comprised in, a building but excluding any part of the shop which is used neither for the serving of customers in connection with the sale of goods nor for the display of goods.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002;

“bulk tobacconist” means a shop selling tobacco products (whether or not it also sells other products) from a part of the shop (“the tobacco area”) from which tobacco products are not visible outside such area and whose sales of cigarettes or hand-rolling tobacco, measured in accordance with paragraph (2), meet the following conditions -

“original package” means the package in which the cigarettes or hand-rolling tobacco were supplied for the purpose of retail sale by the manufacturer or importer and “packaged for sale” shall be construed accordingly;

“other feature” means a logo, trademark, symbol, motto, type-face, colour or pattern of colour, picture, artwork, imagery, appearance, message or other indication that constitutes all or part of the recognisable identity of a product, but does not include a bar code or stock number;

“package” means any box, carton, or other container;

“premises” includes any place and any vehicle, vessel, hovercraft, stall or moveable structure;

“price list” means a list of the prices of tobacco products normally offered for sale in the place where such list is displayed or made available;

“shop” means any premises where there is carried on a trade or business consisting wholly or mainly of the sale of goods;

“storage unit” means a gantry, cabinet or unit, tray, shelf or other product in which a tobacco product is held pending sale.

(2) The sales referred to in the definition of “bulk tobacconist” are to be measured by sale price—

(a)during the most recent period of twelve months for which accounts are available, or

(b)during the period for which the shop has been established, if it has not been established long enough for twelve months’ accounts to be available.

(3) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(3) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Meaning of “place”

3.  For the purposes of section 7C of the Act, “place” means premises in Northern Ireland where tobacco products are offered for sale in the course of a business, other than premises—

(a)which are accessible only to persons who are engaged in, or employed by, a business which is part of the tobacco trade, and

(b)from which the prices of tobacco products are not visible from the outside of the premises.

Display of prices of tobacco products

4.—(1) The requirements specified below apply for the purposes of section 7C of the Act.

(2) Subject to regulation 9, a display of prices of tobacco products in a place shall—

(a)in all cases, comply with the general requirements specified in regulation 5, and

(b)comply with the requirements specified in—

(i)regulation 6 (in relation to price lists),

(ii)regulation 7 (in relation to price lists available on request), or

(iii)regulation 8 (in relation to the display of prices on storage units).

(3) Where a display of prices of tobacco products in a place also amounts to an advertisement for the purposes of the Act, if it complies with the requirements of these Regulations it is to be treated as a display of prices and not as an advertisement for the purposes of offences under the Act.

General requirements for the display of prices of tobacco products

5.  The requirements are that a display of prices of tobacco products—

(a)shall be limited to the following information in relation to tobacco products—

(i)the brand name of the product,

(ii)where pre-packed, the number of units in the package or, where sold by weight, the net weight of the product,

(iii)in relation only to cigars, the country of origin and dimensions,

(iv)in relation only to pipe tobaccos, the cut and type of tobacco used, and

(v)the price of the product(4);

(b)shall be printed—

(i)in black Helvetica plain type on a white background,

(ii)in type which has a consistent size throughout the text, and

(iii)in lower case type, except that the first letter of a word may be in upper case type; and

(c)except as otherwise provided by regulation 7(1)(e), must not contain any other feature.

Price lists

6.—(1) The requirements are—

(a)that the display of prices of tobacco products is in the form of a price list; and

(b)that the price list—

(i)has the title “Tobacco products price list”, and

(ii)may include sub-headings for “cigarettes”, “hand rolling tobacco”, “cigars”, “pipe tobaccos”, and “other tobacco products”,

(iii)does not include the prices of any other products,

(iv)is worded with characters which are no higher than 7 millimetres,

(v)has no border or frame,

(vi)does not exceed 1250 square centimetres in size; and

(vii)is limited in number in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2) The price list shall be limited in number to one price list for each separate area where tobacco products are both located and can be paid for.

Price lists: available only on request

7.—(1) The requirements are—

(a)that the display of prices of tobacco products is in the form of a price list which is made available to an individual aged 18 or over following a particular request by the individual for information about tobacco products for sale in the place where such request takes place;

(b)that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure that the individual making such a request is aged 18 or over before such a display takes place;

(c)that the display lasts for no longer than is needed for the individual to obtain the information sought by that individual;

(d)that the size of the wording on the price list shall be such that no character is greater than 4 millimetres high;

(e)that the only other feature displayed is a picture of the actual tobacco product, as packaged for sale, where the size of such picture does not exceed 50 square centimetres; and

(f)that the price list shall be limited in number to—

(i)one price list for each separate area where tobacco products are both located and can be paid for, or

(ii)where there is more than one till at any such location, one price list for each such till.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), a person is treated as having taken all reasonable steps to establish that the individual is aged 18 or over if either—

(a)from the individual’s appearance nobody could reasonably have suspected that the individual was aged under 18; or

(b)the person asked the individual for evidence of the individual’s age and the evidence would have convinced a reasonable person.

Storage units

8.  The requirements are—

(a)that the price of the tobacco product is displayed on a storage unit where that particular product is kept pending sale;

(b)that such display—

(i)is worded with characters which are no higher than 4 millimetres, and

(ii)does not exceed 9 square centimetres in size; and

(c)is limited in number to one display for each separate location in a storage unit where a particular tobacco product is held.

Specialist and bulk tobacconists

9.—(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), these Regulations shall not apply to specialist tobacconists(5) or bulk tobacconists.

(2) A display of prices of tobacco products which is visible from—

(a)the outside of the premises of a specialist tobacconist, or

(b)the outside of the tobacco area of a bulk tobacconist,

shall comply with the requirements of paragraph (3).

(3) The requirements are that such a display—

(a)shall comply with the general requirements specified in regulation 5,

(b)shall comply with the requirements of regulation 6(1)(a) and (b)(i) to (vi), and

(c)is limited in number to one display for each premises.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety on ***

Dr Elizabeth Mitchell

A senior officer of the

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations impose requirements in relation to the display of prices of tobacco products in a place in Northern Ireland in the course of a business.

Regulation 1 provides that these Regulations shall come into operation on 31 October 2012 for large shops, and on 6 April 2015 for all other purposes.

Regulation 3 defines the meaning of ‘place’ for the purposes of section 7C of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 (displays: prices of tobacco products). It is defined as meaning premises in Northern Ireland where tobacco products are offered for sale in the course of a business, other than premises which are accessible only by persons engaged in, or employed by, the tobacco trade and which do not display the prices of tobacco products in a way that is visible from the outside of the premises.

Regulation 4 provides that the display of prices of tobacco products in a place in Northern Ireland must comply with the requirements specified in the Regulations. Regulation 5 lays down general requirements which must be met by all such displays. Regulations 6 to 8 lay down additional requirements to be met in relation to particular means of displaying such prices. Indications of the selling price of tobacco products are also regulated by the Price Marking Order (Northern Ireland) 2004.

Prices may be displayed in one or more of the following ways: by way of price lists, which meet the requirements of regulation 6; by price lists available on request, which meet the requirements of regulation 7; and, by labels on storage units, which meet the requirements of regulation 8.

Regulation 9 limits the application of these Regulations in relation to specialist tobacconists and bulk tobacconists (as defined in regulation 2). The Regulations only place requirements on the display of prices of tobacco products by such businesses where such a display would be visible from the outside of their premises.

A draft of these Regulations has been notified to the European Commission as a technical standard, pursuant to Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and the Council (OJ No L204, 21.7.98, p37) laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations, as amended.

An impact assessment dealing with the effect these Regulations will have on the cost of business and other sectors of the economy is available from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Health Improvement Policy Branch, Room C4.22, Castle Buildings, Stormont, Belfast. It is also available to download at www.dhsspsni.gov.uk.