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Smoke Free Ontario Act Retail Display Ban Text
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The Smoke-Free Ontario Act came into force on May 31, 2006. The Act:
  • Prohibits smoking in enclosed workplaces and enclosed public places in Ontario in order to protect workers and the public from the hazards of second-hand smoke.
  • Restricts how tobacco products are displayed and promoted at the point of sale.
  • Strengthened the restriction on selling tobacco products to young people.

Effective May 31, 2008, Section 3.1(2) of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act will read as follows (current 3.1(2) permits packages to be displayed):

No person shall display or permit the display of tobacco products in any place where tobacco products are sold or offered for sale in any manner that will permit a consumer to view any tobacco product before purchasing the tobacco.
In terms of display, no tobacco products may be displayed in a retail store. This means: 
 
  • Tobacco products must be stored in a way that prohibits consumers from seeing them before they are purchased. Customers are not allowed to handle cigarettes or other tobacco products before they purchase them.
  • Store owners must ensure that tobacco products are not displayed to a potential consumer while re-stocking, conducting inventory checks or any other process that may require the storage device to be opened and tobacco products viewed.
  • The brief time when a seller opens and closes the storage device and transfers the product to a customer is not considered a "display" under section 3.1(2) of the Act.
Removing tobacco from displays is key to comprehensive tobacco control programming because it prevents youth from starting to smoke, helps smokers who are trying to quit and helps recent quitting to stay smoke-free. 
 

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For more information on the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, please visit the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion website:
 
 
Last Updated ( Monday, 12 January 2009 )