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The Tobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026

S.R. 2026/171 · Made 5 October 2026 · Extends to Northern Ireland

Not fully up to date. 2 changes made by later legislation have not yet been written into this text, which is revised to 29 October 2026.

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ProvisionChangeMade by
reg. 4coming into forceTobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) 2026 reg. 1(3)
reg. 5coming into forceTobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) 2026 reg. 1(4)

Public Health

Laid before the Assembly in draft

Made 5th October 2026

Coming into operation in accordance with regulation 1

The Department of Healthf1 makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 12(8) and 24(3) of the Tobacco Retailers Act (Northern Ireland) 2014f2,

In accordance with section 24(2) of that Act, a draft of these Regulations has been laid before and approved by a resolution of the Assembly.

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

Formerly the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (see section 1(5) of 2016 c.5

f2

2014 c. 4 (N.I.)

Contents

  1. 1Citation and commencement
  2. 2Amendment of the Tobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016
  3. 3Amendments coming into operation on 29th October 2026
  4. 4Amendments to Schedule coming into operation on 1st January 2027 Not yet in force
  5. 5Amendments to Schedule coming into operation on 1st March 2027 Not yet in force
  6. 6Revocation
  7. Signature
  8. Explanatory note

1Citation and commencementI1

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Tobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026.

(2)

Except as provided in paragraph (3) and (4), these regulations come into operation on 29th October 2026.

(3)

Regulation 4 comes into operation on 1st January 2027.

(4)

Regulation 5 comes into operation on 1st March 2027.

2Amendment of the Tobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016I1

The Tobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016f1 are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 5.

3Amendments coming into operation on 29th October 2026I1

For the Schedule (amount of fixed penalty) substitute –

“

Entry No(1) Offence(2) Fixed Penalty
1An unregistered person carrying on a tobacco products or herbal smoking products business (section 10(1) of the Act).£500.00
2A registered person carrying on a tobacco products or herbal smoking products business at premises other than those noted in the person’s entry in the Register (section 10(2) of the Act).£500.00
3A person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with section 3 of the Act (duty to notify certain changes) (section 10(3) of the Act).£50.00
4A person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with section 8(2) of the Act (in relation to the display of a notice if subject to a restricted premises order) (section 10(7) of the Act).£100.00
5A person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with section 9(2) of the Act (in relation to removal of tobacco products, herbal smoking products, cigarette papers, vaping products or nicotine products from the retail area where a restricted premises order has effect) (section 10(8) of the Act).£500.00
6A person who before 1 st January 2027, sells to a person under the age of 18 any tobacco product, herbal smoking product or cigarette papers, whether for his own use or not (Article 3 of the 1978 Order). £250.00
7A person aged 18 or over who before 1 st January 2027, knowingly buys or attempts to buy tobacco products, herbal smoking products or cigarette papers on behalf of a person under the age of 18 (Article 4A of the 1978 Order). £250.00
8A person who sells a vaping product or nicotine product to a person who is under the age of 18 (Article 4H of the 1978 Order).£250.00
9A person aged 18 or over who buys, or attempts to buy, a vaping product or nicotine product on behalf of a person who is under the age of 18 (Article 4I of the 1978 Order).£250.00
10A person who has the management or control of premises on which a tobacco vending machine is available for use (Article 4B of the 1978 Order).£250.00
11A person who has the management or control of premises on which a vape vending machine or a nicotine product vending machine is available for use (Article 4J of the 1978 Order).£250.00
12A tobacco retailer who sells cigarettes that are not in their original packaging (Article 4C of the 1978 Order).£250.00
13

A person who —

  1. (a)

    gives away a product or coupon to a member of the public or sells a product or coupon at a substantial discount, or who causes or permits that to happen, and

  2. (b)

    does so to promote a relevant product or does so knowing or having reason to suspect that the effect of their doing so is to promote a relevant product (Article 4L of the 1978 Order).

£250.00
14Failure to display a notice stating “It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18” in retail premises where tobacco is sold (Article 5 of the 1991 Order).£100.00

”

4Amendments to Schedule coming into operation on 1st January 2027I1

The following amendments to the Schedule (amount of fixed penalty) (as substituted by regulation 3) come into operation on 1st January 2027 -

(1)

for entry number 6, substitute –

“

6

A person who sells to a person born on or after 1st January 2009 a tobacco product, a herbal smoking product or cigarette papers.

(Article 3 of the 1978 Order).

£250.00;

”

(2)

for entry number 7, substitute –

“

7

A person aged 18 or over who buys or attempts to buy a tobacco product, a herbal smoking product or cigarette papers on behalf of a person born on or after 1st January 2009.

(Article 4A of the 1978 Order).

£250.00;

”

(3)

for entry number 14, substitute –

“

14Failure to display a notice stating “It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 st January 2009” in a prominent position where it is readily visible to people at each point of sale of such products. (Article 4D of the 1978 Order).”. £100.00;

”

5Amendments to Schedule coming into operation on 1st March 2027I1

The following amendments to the Schedule (amount of fixed penalty) (as substituted by regulation 3) come into operation on 1st March 2027 -

(1)

for entry number 1, substitute –

“

1An unregistered person carrying on a registrable business (section 10(1) of the Act).£500.00;

”

(2)

for entry number 2, substitute –

“

2A registered person who carries on a registrable business at premises other than those noted in the person’s entry in the Register as premises at which the person proposes to carry on that kind of registrable business (section 10(2) of the Act).£500.00;

”

6RevocationI1

The Tobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021f1 are revoked.

Signature

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Health on 5th October 2026

L.S.

Siobhan Broderick

A senior officer of the Department of Health

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Tobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“the Regulations”).

Regulation 3 and 4 amend the 2016 Regulations to refer to “herbal smoking products” in addition to “tobacco products” as well as prescribing the amount of fixed penalties for certain new tobacco product and herbal smoking product related offences under the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

Regulation 5 amends the provisions in the 2016 Regulations relating to the registration of tobacco retailers, so they also apply to retailers of vaping and nicotine products by referring to a “registrable” business and prescribes the amount of fixed penalties for the related offences under the Tobacco Retailers Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

The amendments made by regulation 3 come into operation on 29th October 2026 and substitute the Schedule in the 2016 Regulations. Amendments to that substituted schedule are made by regulation 4 and 5 and are effective from 1st January 2027 and 1st March 2027 respectively.

Regulation 6 revokes The Tobacco Retailer (Fixed Penalty) (Amount) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 (SR ).

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.