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Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990

Restrictions on advertising, promotion, sale, and distribution of regulated products - Sale of regulated products and toy regulated products to people under 18 years

44: Internet-sales purchase age information or warnings

You could also call this:

"Online sellers must show warnings about selling to people under 18."

Illustration for Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990

If you sell regulated products on the internet, you must follow certain rules. These rules are in place if there are regulations that say you must show purchase age information or warnings on your website. You must comply with these regulations if they apply to you, which means you have to display the required health warning information or warnings on your site.

You can only use this information to tell people that it is against the law to sell regulated products to people under 18 years old. You must also follow the specific requirements of the regulations.

If you do not follow these rules without a good reason, you can get in trouble and have to pay a fine of up to $2,000.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS428475.

Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Public healthCrime and justice > Criminal law
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43: Point-of-sale purchase age information, or

"Stores must display a sign saying they don't sell certain products to people under 18."

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45: Court may order certain repeat offenders not to sell regulated product, or

"Courts can ban repeat offenders from selling certain products, like vaping items, for breaking the law."

Part 2Restrictions on advertising, promotion, sale, and distribution of regulated products
Sale of regulated products and toy regulated products to people under 18 years

44Internet-sales purchase age information or warnings

  1. This section applies if regulations made under section 81(1)(18) are in force requiring purchase age information or warnings to be visible on a person’s Internet site when people access it.

  2. A person to whom those regulations apply who offers regulated products for sale must comply with those regulations.

  3. The health warning information or warnings that are required to be visible must—

  4. do no more than communicate information or warnings to the effect that the sale of regulated products to people who are younger than 18 years is prohibited; and
    1. comply with the applicable requirements of those regulations.

      1. A person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes subsection (2) commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding $2,000.

      Notes
      • Section 44: inserted, on , by section 27 of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 62).
      • Section 44(1): amended, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).