Rules for selling tobacco and vapour products

Changes in effect July 1, 2020

On July 1, 2020, the following changes came into effect:

• The sale of flavoured vapour products is prohibited in retail establishments that are not specialty vape stores or licensed cannabis retail stores, with the exception of, menthol, mint and tobacco flavoured vapour products.
• The sale of vapour products with high nicotine concentrations (greater than 20 milligrams per millilitre) is prohibited in retail establishments that are not specialty vape stores.
• Specialty vape stores must ensure that any indoor displays and promotions of vapour products are not visible from outside their stores.

The law

If you sell tobacco or vapour products in Ontario, you must follow the rules in the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017.

Tobacco products include:

• cigarettes
• cigars
• cigarillos
• specialty tobacco products such as chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, snus and snuff
• tobacco sticks or capsules used in vapour products

Vapour products include:

• electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)
• any part of an e-cigarette (for example, coils)
• substances made or sold to be used in an e-cigarette

All retailers

Age restriction

It is against the law to sell or supply a tobacco product or vapour product to someone who:

• is younger than age 19
• appears to be younger than age 25, without asking them for ID and being satisfied that they are at least age 19

Age-restriction signs

As a retailer, you must post these signs depending on the products you sell.

You can:

• order these signs from your local public health unit
• download the PDF (right-click and choose "Save link as") and print a copy

Get more detail about posting these signs and their required dimensions in the legislation.

Display and promotion

Tobacco products and tobacco product accessories associated with a brand of tobacco product (for example, lighters):

• must be hidden from view until a customer buys them
• cannot be handled by a customer before they have bought them
• cannot be promoted in a retail store

If you are a tobacconist, there are exceptions to these rules. Learn the rules for displaying and promoting tobacco products that tobacconists must follow.

Vapour products:

• must be hidden from view until a customer buys them
• cannot be handled by a customer before they have bought them
• cannot be promoted in a retail store

Exceptions apply to specialty vape stores, if certain conditions are met. Learn about the rules for displaying and promoting vapour products that specialty vape stores must follow.

Licensed cannabis retail stores are also exempt from the rules on display and promotion of vapour products.

Any inappropriate display or promotion of any of these products – whether intentional or unintentional – could result in charges to the salesperson or store owner.

Find more details about display and promotion in the legislation.

Duty-free retailers

Duty-free retailers can let customers look at and handle tobacco products and tobacco product accessories associated with a brand of tobacco product, such as lighters, ashtrays and cigar cases, before they make a purchase if:

• tobacco products and tobacco product accessories associated with a brand of tobacco product are not visible from outside the store
• customers can only enter the store from outdoors or from common areas inside an enclosed shopping mall that are not part of another business
• the store is not a thoroughfare (a passageway)

Tobacconists

A tobacconist is a retail store that primarily sells specialty tobacco products (meaning tobacco products other than cigarettes, such as cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff and products used to consume tobacco, such as pipes, humidors, lighters, heat-not-burn devices).

A tobacconist must register with its local public health unit and comply with certain inventory or sales requirements.

If a tobacconist registered with its local public health unit prior to January 1, 2020, then the following inventory and sales requirements apply:

• At least 50% of the establishment's inventory at the time of registration must consist of specialty tobacco products
• For every 12 month period after registering the public health unit, at least 50% of the establishment's sales for the previous 12 month period must consist of specialty tobacco products
• There are no restrictions on the remaining sales/inventory.

If a tobacconist registers with its local public health unit on or after January 1, 2020, then the following inventory and sales requirements apply:

• At least 85% of the establishment's sales from the previous 12 months must consist of specialty tobacco products.
• If the establishment has been in operation for less than 12 months:
  • At least 85% of the establishment's total inventory purchases for the time it has been in existence must consist of specialty tobacco products; or
  • At least 85% of the total sales for the time it has been in existence must consist of specialty tobacco products.
• The remaining sales or inventory must consist of cigarettes or items reasonably associated with a tobacco product or branded with the name of the tobacconist or a brand of tobacco.

A tobacconist can display and promote specialty tobacco products if it ensures that:

• no one younger than age 19 enters the store, other than a store employee or a support person accompanying a person with a disability (the person with the disability must be at least age 19)
• specialty tobacco products and any promotional material are not visible from outside the store
• the store is a building or located inside a building, not, for example, a kiosk in an outdoor market
• customers only enter the store from the outdoors or from common areas inside an enclosed shopping mall that are not part of another business
• the store is not a thoroughfare (a passageway)

A tobacconist can let customers activate an electronic cigarette containing tobacco for the purposes of testing or demonstrating the electronic cigarette, if it ensures that:

• all other rules for display and promotion are met
• no vapour is inhaled or exhaled from the electronic cigarette

To register as a tobacconist, please contact your local public health unit.

Specialty vape stores

A specialty vape store is a retail establishment that primarily sells vapour products and:

• is registered with their local public health unit
• at least 85% of its sales from the previous 12 months are from vapour products
• the remaining sales are from other items associated with vapour products, or branded with the name of the specialty vape store or a vapour product (for example, a branded carrying case)

There are different rules if the establishment has been in operation for less than 12 months. Either at least 85% of the establishment’s:

• total inventory purchases for the time it has been in existence must consist of vapour products, or
• total sales for the time it has been in existence must consist of vapour products

The remaining sales or inventory purchases must consist of other items associated with vapour products or branded with the name of the specialty vape store or a vapour product (for example, a branded carrying case).

To register as a specialty vape store, please contact your local public health unit.

A specialty vape store can display and promote vapour products as long as the display and promotion takes place entirely within the place of business, and it ensures that:

• no one younger than age 19 enters the store, other than a store employee or a support person accompanying a person with a disability (the person with the disability must be at least age 19)
• the store is a building or located inside a building
• customers only enter the store from the outdoors or from common areas inside an enclosed shopping mall that are not part of another business
• the store is not a thoroughfare (a passageway)
• all indoor displays and promotion of vapour products are not visible from outside the store.

A specialty vape store can let customers sample a vapour product, if it ensures that:

• all other rules for display and promotion are met
• no more than two people sample a vapour product at the same time
• the store provides unused, one-time use, disposable mouthpieces for sampling, unless the customer is using their own e-cigarette to sample
• the electronic cigarette does not contain cannabis, tobacco or a controlled substance

Colleges and universities

You cannot sell tobacco or vapour products in areas of a university or college that are:

• owned or leased by a post-secondary institution or student union
• used for student education, recreation or housing

Automatic prohibitions

The province issues an "automatic prohibition" when a tobacco retail location's owner is convicted of 2 or more tobacco sales offences in a 5-year period. This means the location cannot sell or store tobacco products for a set time, depending on the number of convictions in the 5-year period:

• 2 convictions = 6-month prohibition
• 3 convictions = 9-month prohibition
• 4 or more convictions = 12-month prohibition

It does not matter who the current owner is – it matters where the offences took place. This means that you may be subject to an automatic prohibition if you buy a business that already had:

• 2 tobacco sales offence convictions against the previous owner
• 1 tobacco sales offence conviction against the previous owner and you are then convicted of another tobacco sales offence within 5 years of the previous owner's conviction

If you are thinking about buying a retail store that sells tobacco, be sure to contact the local public health unit to get the location's conviction history.

Signs for automatic prohibition

If your retail location is under an automatic prohibition, you must display the sign(s) appropriate to the offence(s) at the entrance and wherever tobacco was sold/supplied before to the automatic prohibition.

You can:

• order these signs from your local public health unit
• download the PDF (right-click and choose "Save link as") and print a copy

Get more detail about posting these signs and their required dimensions in the legislation.