N.J. Admin. Code § 18:5-6.27

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 17, September 3, 2024

Section 18:5-6.27 - Penalties for sales in violation of N.J.S.A. 52:4D-8

(a) Pursuant to procedures set forth in N.J.S.A. 54:40A-5, the Director may revoke or suspend the holder's Certificate of Authority or suspend or revoke the license of any person that violates N.J.S.A. 52:4D-8. Each offer to sell cigarettes in violation of N.J.S.A. 52:4D-8 and each stamp or metered impression affixed shall be a separate violation. For each violation, the Director may also impose a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed the greater of 500 percent of the retail value of the cigarettes sold, or $5,000 upon a determination of violation of N.J.S.A. 52:4D-8 or any rule adopted pursuant thereto.

(b) Cigarettes shall be deemed contraband when they have been sold, offered for sale, or possessed for sale in this State in violation of N.J.S.A. 52:4D-8, regardless of whether the violation was knowing under N.J.S.A. 54:40A-30, and those cigarettes shall be subject to forfeiture and seizure as provided in N.J.S.A. 54:40A-30. All cigarettes so forfeited and seized shall be destroyed and not resold.

(c) The Attorney General, on behalf of the Director, may seek an injunction to restrain a threatened or actual violation of N.J.S.A. 52:4D- 8, or 52:4D-10.a or .b by a licensed distributor and to compel the licensed distributor to comply with the requirements therein. The State shall be entitled to recover the costs of investigation, costs of the action, and reasonable attorney fees.

(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or distribute cigarettes or acquire, hold, own, possess, transport, import, or cause to be imported, cigarettes that the person knows or should know are intended for distribution or sale in the State in violation of N.J.S.A. 52:4D-8. A violation of this subsection shall be a crime of the third degree.

N.J. Admin. Code § 18:5-6.27

Amended by 49 N.J.R. 1912(b), effective 7/3/2017