Possessing unmarked cigarettes could get you a $10,000 fine and two years in jail, depending on how many smokes they catch you with warn the OPP.
It comes after police stopped a car on Highway 400 earlier this month and after speaking with the occupants of the vehicle they saw open liquor containers as well as unmarked cigarettes.
Two men from Oshawa were charged with:
- Possess Unmarked Cigarettes,
- Consuming Liquor In Other Than Licenced Premises,
- Having Care or Control of a Motor Vehicle with Liquor Readily Available
If you are convicted of possessing unmarked cigarettes you may be fined three times the tax on the unmarked cigarettes you possessed plus:
- a fine of $100 if you possessed 200 unmarked cigarettes or less
- a fine of $250 if you possessed more than 200 unmarked cigarettes but less than 1,001
- a fine of $500 if you possessed more than 1,000 unmarked cigarettes but less than 10,001
- a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $10,000 if you possessed more than 10,000 unmarked cigarettes.
- In addition, if it is not your first conviction for possessing unmarked cigarettes or if you are in possession of more than 10,000 unmarked cigarettes you may be sentenced to up to two years in jail.
Police say;
- Packages of cigarettes and packages of fine cut tobacco for sale to First Nations under Ontario's First Nation Cigarette Allocation System and diplomats must have the peach‑coloured federal stamp. For the purpose of the Act, packages of cigarettes and packages of fine cut tobacco with the peach‑coloured federal stamp are considered 'unmarked'
- To purchase, possess, store, or sell unmarked cigarettes or unmarked fine cut tobacco you must hold a Permit to Purchase and Sell Unmarked Cigarettes and/or a Permit to Purchase and Sell Unmarked Fine Cut Tobacco.
- Unless otherwise permitted in the limited exceptions under the Act, it is illegal for anyone to purchase, possess or sell any quantity of cigarettes or package of fine cut tobacco not marked with the Ontario-adapted federal stamp.
- Without proper authorization under the Tobacco Tax Act, it is against the law to have any packages of cigarettes or fine cut tobacco that do not have a legal ON DUTY PAID CANADA tobacco stamp. Consequences include civil penalties, and, if charged and convicted of an offence, possible fines, jail time or both. Packages of cigarettes that do not have the tobacco stamp are unmarked cigarettes.
For more information visit the Ministry of Finance website.
