Buying and selling cigarettes falls under heavy regulations in Canada. The nation imposes such rules to deter young people from smoking and maintain a healthy population. These rules also ensure honest and lawful tobacco trades. As a resident or visitor, understanding some of these regulations is essential to staying on the right side of the law.
Age restrictions and sales of tobacco
The number one and most important rule is who is allowed to purchase cigarettes. In Canada, the age limit for buying tobacco products is 18 or 19. That depends on the province or territory. It is 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec, and 19 in all the rest of the provinces.
Sellers must request to see a valid government-issued ID when a buyer appears to be less than 25 years old. Selling to minors may attract huge fines or the suspension of the license.
In addition, Canada has strong regulations on the location of the sale of cigarettes. Tobacco products are usually sold in licensed convenience stores, gas stations, and specialty tobacconists. However, vending machines and Internet sales are strongly limited or prohibited.
Rules of packaging and labelling
Have you ever wondered why cigarette packages look so boring in Canada? It is intentional. In 2019, Canada imposed plain and standardized cigarette packaging. That is:
- Packs should be of the same drab brown color
- Fonts should be the same
- No logo or branding should appear.
Health warnings, however, are big and graphic. They take up most of the package, including individual cigarettes.
These regulations are part of the federal Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA), designed to decrease the smoking rates and make young people less likely to adopt the habit.
Taxes and price controls
Canada is one of the countries with the highest tobacco levies. Sellers and buyers are subject to federal and provincial excise duties. This leads to cigarette price variations across regions. All in all, these taxes are deliberately high to prevent tobacco consumption.
Buying cigarettes in wholesale
The sale of wholesale cigarettes is only permitted under certain circumstances. Retailers and wholesalers are required to have a valid license from their provincial government. Additionally, all cigarettes are supposed to be from approved manufacturers that follow the federal labeling and tax regulations.
To consumers, it is an offense to purchase wholesale cigarettes from unauthorized sellers or unregistered distributors. Never buy anything on a large scale without first checking whether or not the source is approved by the government.
Indigenous tobacco sales
There is also another significant exception within the communities of the First Nations. There are licensed retailers that are allowed to sell tax-exempt tobacco products to Indigenous buyers. However, these communities still have rules, and some do not sell untaxed items to non-Indigenous people.
Summing up
The Canadian cigarette laws are considered to be one of the most stringent ever in the world, and rightly so. They are meant to maintain a healthy population and make all tobacco products in the market legal and traceable.