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Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2024
Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 13. Cigarette Tax
Chapter 3.5. Stamps and Meter Machines1
Article 1. Use of Stamps and Impressions
Section 30163
30163. Affixed to packages. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, an appropriate stamp shall be affixed to, or an appropriate meter impression shall be made on each package of cigarettes prior to the distribution of the cigarettes.
(b) No stamp or meter impression may be affixed to, or made upon, any package of cigarettes if any one of the following occurs:
(1) The package does not comply with all requirements of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1331 and following) for the placement of labels, warnings, or any other information upon a package of cigarettes that is to be sold within the United States.
(2) The package is labeled "For Export Only," "U.S. Tax Exempt," "For Use Outside U.S.," or similar wording indicating that the manufacturer did not intend that the product be sold in the United States.
(3) The package, or a package containing individually stamped packages, has been altered by adding or deleting the wording, labels, or warnings described in paragraph (1) or (2).
(4) The package was imported into the United States after January 1, 2000, in violation of Section 5754 of Title 26 of the United States Code.
(5) (A) The package bears a cigarette brand name which is a registered U.S. trademark of a participating manufacturer and the package was imported by anyone other than the participating manufacturer of that cigarette brand.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, "participating manufacturer" has the same meaning as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 104557 of the Health and Safety Code and in Section II(jj) of the Master Settlement Agreement described in Article 3 (commencing with Section 104555) of Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 103 of the Health and Safety Code.
(c) Pursuant to its authority under Section 30148, the board shall revoke the license issued to a distributor that is determined to be in violation of this section.
(d) A violation of subdivision (b) shall constitute unfair competition under Section 17200 of the Business and Professions Code.
History—Added by Stats. 1961, p. 2315, operative July 16, 1961. Stats. 1998, Ch. 292 (SB 2134), in effect August 13, 1998, substituted "Except as otherwise provided in this section, an" for "An" at the beginning of the section and added "No stamp or … of this section." as the second sentence. Stats. 1999, Ch. 935 (SB 702), in effect October 10, 1999, renumbered first sentence as subdivision (a), renumbered portion of the second sentence up to "… any package of cigarettes" as subdivision (b), renumbered the balance of the second sentence as paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), renumbered the third sentence as subdivision (c), added paragraph (2), (3) and (4) to subdivision (b), and added subdivision (d). Stats. 2000, Ch. 18 (SB 1038), in effect May 5, 2000, added paragraph (5) to subdivision (b).
1Chapter 3.5 was added to Part 13 by Stats. 1961, p. 2315, operative July 16, 1961.