720 ILCS 675/ Prevention of Tobacco Use by Persons Under 21 Years of Age and Sale and Distribution of Tobacco Products Act
This law says people cannot sell, give, or ship tobacco or vaping products to anyone under 21 years old, and it explains the rules, punishments, and enforcement for breaking those rules.
This Illinois law is meant to stop people under 21 from using tobacco and vaping products. It sets rules for who can sell these products, how to check age, where they can be sold, and what happens if the law is broken.
Sec. 0.01. Short title. This law is called the “Prevention of Tobacco Use by Persons under 21 Years of Age and Sale and Distribution of Tobacco Products Act.”
Sec. 1. Prohibition on sale of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, and alternative nicotine products to persons under 21 years of age; prohibition on the distribution of tobacco product samples, electronic cigarette samples, and alternative nicotine product samples to any person; use of identification cards; vending machines; lunch wagons; out-of-package sales.
(a) No one is allowed to sell, buy for, give samples of, or give any tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine product to anyone under 21 years old.
(a-5) No one under 16 years old may sell tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine products in a store that sells these products, unless it is a family-owned business and the young worker is the owner’s son or daughter.
(a-5.1) Before selling, offering, giving, or providing any tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine product to someone, the seller must:
- Make sure the person is at least 21 years old by either checking a government photo ID for anyone who looks under 30, or,
- For online or other remote sales, using an approved age-check service that confirms from public records that the buyer is 21 or older.
(a-5.2) People cannot have electronic cigarettes ordered or bought by mail, online, or other remote methods shipped to anyone under 21 in Illinois, except when the shipment goes to:
- A licensed distributor, or
- A licensed retailer.
(a-6) A person under 21 years old is not allowed to use, show, or make a fake ID, or change or damage an ID, in order to help get tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine products.
(a-7) (Blank.)
(a-8) No one may hand out free samples of any tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine product to anyone, no matter their age, unless the product is smokeless tobacco and it is handed out in a place where only adults 21 and over are allowed.
This part does not apply if free samples of tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine products are given only inside an adult-only facility.
(a-9) For this Section, the following words have these meanings:
“Adult-only facility”. This means a place or restricted area, indoors or outdoors, where the operator makes sure, or has a good reason to believe, that no one under 21 is present, such as by checking IDs as required by law or checking anyone who looks under 30. The place does not have to be adults-only all the time, as long as during the event or time in question, the operator makes sure no one under 21 is there.
“Alternative nicotine product”. This means a product or device that does not have tobacco in it but lets a person take in nicotine into their body by chewing, smoking, absorbing, dissolving, inhaling, sniffing, or by any other way. It does not include cigarettes, tobacco products or electronic cigarettes, or any product that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved to help people quit tobacco or for other medical use, if it is sold only for that medical purpose.
“Electronic cigarette”. This means:
- Any device that uses a battery or other power to heat up a liquid or substance to make a vapor or mist that a person inhales.
- Any cartridge or container that holds the liquid or substance used in or to refill the device.
- Any liquid or substance, with or without nicotine, that is meant to be used in the device.
“Electronic cigarette” also includes things like electronic nicotine delivery systems, electronic cigars, cigarillos, pipes, hookahs, vape pens, and similar devices, plus any parts used to build or run the device, even if sold separately. It does not include cigarettes, tobacco products, alternative nicotine products, FDA-approved quitting or medical products sold only for that purpose, prescribed asthma inhalers used only for asthma, devices defined as cannabis tools, or cannabis products sold legally at licensed cannabis businesses.
“Lunch wagon”. This means a moving vehicle made to carry food and to sell food to the public.
“Nicotine”. This means any form of the chemical nicotine, including any salt or similar form, whether it comes from plants or is made in a lab.
“Tobacco product”. This means any product made from or containing tobacco that people are meant to use or consume by smoking, heating, chewing, absorbing, dissolving, inhaling, sniffing, or swallowing, including cigarettes, cigars, little cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, snuff, snus, and other smokeless tobaccos meant to be put in the mouth. It includes any parts or pieces of tobacco products, even if sold separately. It does not include alternative nicotine products or FDA-approved quitting or medical products sold only for that purpose.
(b) Tobacco, vaping, and other nicotine products may be sold in a vending machine only if the machine does not hold any non-tobacco items (except matches) and is located in one of the following spots:
- (Blank)
- Places where only people 21 or older are allowed.
- Places where alcohol is sold, and the vendimg machine is directly supervised by the manager or owner.
- (Blank)
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(c) (Blank.)
(d) No one may sell or hand out a tobacco product, including a single loose cigarette, unless it is in the sealed package from the maker that has the required federal health warning on it.
(e) A person under 21 does not break this law by buying or being given a tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine product from a store or store worker if they are part of an approved “sting” or enforcement operation to test whether a store is following age laws. These operations must be approved by certain state or local law or health agencies, and the store must be told the results, including the clerk’s name, within 7 business days.
(f) No one may accept or honor any discount, coupon, or price deal that goes against laws on tobacco and vaping product marketing and pricing.
(g) Police and certain state or local officers who find a violation of the listed parts of this law, or of the youth vaping law, may take the tobacco, alternative nicotine, or electronic cigarette products of the type involved in that violation from that business. Those products can then be taken away (forfeited).
(h) If, within 60 days after a seizure under subsection (g), someone with an ownership interest in the seized products is charged with breaking this law or the youth vaping law, the court must hold a hearing within 30 days after the case is decided. At the hearing, the court decides if the seized products were part of the store’s inventory at the time of the violation and if they were the type involved in the violation. If so, the court orders the products forfeited and destroyed.
(i) If there is a seizure under subsection (g) but no one is charged, or if the case ends with no decision of guilty or not guilty, then:
- The prosecutor can start a special court case to have the seized products destroyed, and
- anyone who owns the products can start their own civil case to claim their rights under the law.
(j) When the state revenue department seizes any tobacco, nicotine, or electronic cigarette products and no one with an ownership interest is charged, the department must hold a hearing. The department decides if the seized products were part of the store’s inventory at the time of a violation and if they were the type involved. After notice to known owners and possessors or by publishing notice in a newspaper if they are unknown, the department can order the products confiscated and turned over to the state for disposal under the tax law.
Sec. 1.5. (Repealed.)
Sec. 2. Penalties.
(a) Sentence: Any person who breaks subsections (a), (a-5), (a-5.1), (a-5.2), (a-8), (b), or (d) of Section 1 commits a petty offense. If the person’s employer has a training program that teaches workers how to follow the age-21 tobacco law, the person can be fined $200 for the first offense in 24 months, $400 for the second offense in 24 months, $600 for the third offense in 24 months, and $800 for the fourth or later offense in 24 months. These fines are in addition to any tax penalties under other tobacco tax laws.
(a-5) Sentence: Any retailer who breaks subsections (a), (a-5), (a-5.1), (a-5.2), (a-8), (b), or (d) of Section 1 is also guilty of a petty offense. If the retailer does not have a training program to help employees follow the age-21 tobacco law, the retailer is fined $200 for the first offense in 24 months, $400 for the second, $600 for the third, and $800 for the fourth or later offense in 24 months. These fines are extra, on top of any other tobacco tax penalties.
(a-6) A training program that helps follow the age-21 tobacco law must at least explain that:
- Only people with valid ID showing they are 21 or older can buy tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine products, and
- Where on the ID a clerk can find the date of birth. Training may be done online.
Each retailer with such a program must have each trained employee sign a form saying they completed the training, and this form should be kept in the employee’s file as proof.
(b) Sentence: A person under 21 who breaks subsection (a-6) of Section 1 by using a fake or altered ID to get tobacco, vaping, or other nicotine products commits a Class A misdemeanor, which is a serious crime level for this type of offense.
(c) (Blank.)
(d) (Blank.)
(e) (Blank.)
(f) (Blank.)
(g) (Blank.)
(h) All money collected from fines for violations of subsections (a), (a-5), (a-5.1), (a-6), (a-8), (b), or (d) of Section 1 is divided as follows:
- Half goes to the local government or group that successfully brought the case, and
- half goes to the State to help enforce this law.
Any violation of subsection (a) or (a-5) of Section 1 must be reported to the state revenue department within 7 business days.
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