Exeter Municipal Code Ch. 9.28 Regulating the Sale of Tobacco Products

A. Any person, business, tobacco retailer or other establishment subject to this chapter shall post plainly visible signs at the point of purchase of tobacco products which state "THE SALE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TO PERSONS UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE IS PROHIBITED BY LAW. PHOTO ID IS REQUIRED." The letters of the signs shall be at least one-quarter inch high.

B. No person, business, tobacco retailer, or owner, manager or operator of any establishment subject to this chapter shall sell, offer to sell, or permit to be sold any tobacco product to an individual without requesting and examining identification establishing the purchaser's age as eighteen years or greater unless the seller has some reasonable basis for determining the buyer's age.

C. It is unlawful for any person, business or tobacco retailer to sell, permit to be sold, offer for sale or display for sale tobacco products by means of self-service merchandising or by mans other than vendor-assisted sales. Cartons of cigarettes, multi-container packages of smokeless tobacco, cigars and pipe tobacco are exempt from this regulation.

D. No person, tobacco retailer or business, shall locate, install, keep, maintain or use, or permit the location, installation, keeping, maintenance or use on his, her or its premises any vending machine for the purpose of selling or distributing any tobacco product. Any tobacco vending machine in use on the effective date of this chapter shall be removed. Bars are exempt from this provision providing that the vending machine is located at a sufficient distance from the doorway so that the proprietor of the bar can regulate access to the machine.

(Ord. 565 §1(part), 1997)

Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction, punishable by:

A. A fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for a first violation.

B. A fine not exceeding two hundred dollars for a second violation of this chapter within one year.

C. A fine not exceeding five hundred dollars for each additional violation of this chapter within one year.

(Ord. 565 §1(part), 1997)