On March 31, 2010 President Obama signed the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT Act). The ACT takes effect June 30, 2010 .The Act is “intended to help collect cigarette excise taxes, to stop tobacco sales to underage youth, and to help the States enforce their laws that target the online sales of certain tobacco products only." It applies specifically to cigarettes, roll your own cigarette tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff.
The Act makes cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products "non-mailable" which means in general that they can no longer be shipped via the U.S. Postal Service.
The Act also strengthens the Jenkins Act, a federal law that requires anyone shipping cigarettes into a state to first register with the state and then report all shipments into that state on a monthly basis. The PACT Act broadens the Jenkins Act to include RYO cigarette tobacco and smokeless tobacco.
The PACT Act further amends the Jenkins Act to include delivery sales. It requires delivery sellers to comply with state and local laws pertaining to paying excise taxes, being licensed, etc. Delivery sellers of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco will be required to pay the appropriate state and local taxes prior to the sale or delivery and to comply with various reporting, shipping, labeling, and age verification requirements.
