Sale of tobacco product to minor unlawful
Seattle Mun. Code § 6.240.100
in effect6.240.100 - Sale of tobacco product to minor unlawful
A. Every person who sells or gives, or permits to be sold or given, to any minor any cigar, cigarette, cigarette paper or wrapper, tobacco in any form, or a vapor product is guilty of a gross misdemeanor subject to the provisions of Chapters 12A.02 and 12A.04, except that absolute liability shall be imposed and none of the mental states described in Section 12A.04.030 need be proved. It shall be no defense to a prosecution for a violation of this subsection that the person acted, or was believed by the defendant to act, as agent or representative of another.
B. No tobacco product retailer shall sell or permit any agent or employee of such retailer to sell any tobacco product to a potential purchaser where there may be any question of such purchaser's right to purchase a tobacco product because of the purchaser's age, without first having requested and examined identification provided by the potential purchaser that positively establishes that said person is not a minor. In the event that the tobacco product retailer or an agent or employee thereof fails to request and examine such identification before making a tobacco product sale and the purchaser was, in fact, a minor at the time such failure occurs, such retailer shall be deemed to have had no conclusive basis for determining that a tobacco product sale could lawfully be made to such purchaser. Every tobacco product sale to a minor shall constitute a separate violation unless multiple purchases are made during a single visit by such minor to a tobacco product retailer's premises, in which event all sales made during that visit shall constitute a single violation.
(Ord. 125937, § 2, 2019; Ord. 124301, § 2, 2013; Ord. 115531, § 1, 1991.)
Source: City of Seattle, Seattle Municipal Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT6BURE_SUBTITLE_IVNELICO_CH6.240RESATOPR_6.240.100SATOPRMIUNFetched: 11/1/2026