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Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990

Packaging and labelling of regulated products - Packaging and labelling requirements

53: Restrictions on sale of certain regulated products in small quantities

You could also call this:

"Rules for buying cigarettes and tobacco in small packs"

Illustration for Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990

You cannot buy cigarettes in packs of less than 20. You also cannot buy loose tobacco in packs that weigh less than 30 grams. Some other products have their own rules about how many you can buy in a pack, and these rules are decided by regulations. You need to know what counts as a cigarette or loose tobacco to understand these rules. A cigarette includes something called a cigarillo, which is a type of tobacco product. Loose tobacco is tobacco you can use to roll your own cigarettes or smoke in a pipe. If you sell these products in packs that are too small, you can get in trouble with the law. You might have to pay a fine of up to $2,000 if you break this rule without a good reason. This law does not apply to some types of cigars.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS428636.

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Part 3Packaging and labelling of regulated products
Packaging and labelling requirements

53Restrictions on sale of certain regulated products in small quantities

  1. A manufacturer, importer, distributor, or retailer must not sell or offer for sale—

  2. cigarettes in a package that contains fewer than 20 cigarettes; or
    1. loose tobacco in a package that contains less than 30 grams of loose tobacco; or
      1. any other regulated product in a package that contains fewer than the number (if any) prescribed in regulations for that product.

        1. In this section, unless the context otherwise requires,—

          cigarette includes the tobacco product commonly known as a cigarillo

            loose tobacco means—

            1. tobacco prepared for smoking in hand-rolled cigarettes:
              1. pipe tobacco.

              2. Nothing in subsection (1)(a) applies in respect of cigars (other than cigarillos).

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

              Notes
              • Section 53: inserted, on , by section 27 of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 62).