Thirty-two percent of retailers targeted in an undercover survey sold cigarettes to buyers wearing school uniforms last year, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday.
Out of 663 convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets and betel nut stalls surveyed by the Consumers’ Foundation between April and October last year, nearly one-third sold cigarettes to secret shoppers dressed in school uniforms without checking their IDs, the HPA said.
Betel nut vendors were the least likely to check a buyer’s ID, with secret shoppers purchasing cigarettes from 42.4 percent of stalls, it said.
Photo: CNA
Undercover buyers were able to purchase cigarettes from 40.3 percent of grocery stores, 26.6 percent of supermarkets or hypermarkets, and 18.8 percent of convenience stores.
Among convenience stores, 30 percent of Hi-Life stores, 27.2 percent of OK Marts, 16.7 percent of 7-11 stores and 16 percent of FamilyMarts sold cigarettes to undercover buyers.
In terms of supermarkets and hypermarkets, local agricultural and fishers’ associations were the least likely to check IDs, with 35.7 percent of selling cigarettes to undercover buyers, ahead of Pxmart (32.4 percent) and Carrefour outlets (25 percent).
The HPA commissioned the survey ahead of the introduction of amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防治法), which raise the legal age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 20.
Under the new rules, which took effect on March 22, retailers caught selling tobacco products to people under 20 face fines of NT$10,000 to NT$250,000 (US$325 to US$8,126).
Local authorities conducted 250,000 age checks last year, with 119 retailers found selling cigarettes to under-18s, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.09 million, the HPA said.
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