{"id":113444,"date":"2018-05-10T08:45:55","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T12:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/?p=113444"},"modified":"2018-05-15T16:34:05","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T20:34:05","slug":"legal-commentary-on-the-alert-signage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/legal-commentary-on-the-alert-signage\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Commentary On The ALERT Signage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Note\u00a0: DepQu\u00e9bec<\/strong> is proud to welcome a new columnist to its team, Marc-Antoine St-Pierre<\/a>, a lawyer of the firm Deveau Lawyers<\/a>. Mr. St-Pierre<\/a> is called to defend depanneurs regularly against charges of tobacco sale to minors and other similar causes. He also gives frequent training sessions on this topic. Very familiar with the issue, we asked him, for his first column, his opinion on the new ALERT Signage<\/a> launched by DepQu\u00e9bec<\/strong> (see article here<\/a>) to better help prevent fines and offenses related to the sale of tobacco to minors.<\/p>\n

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DepQu\u00e9bec<\/strong>: Mr. St-Pierre<\/a>, what do you think of the ALERT Signage<\/a> concept launched by DepQu\u00e9bec<\/a>?<\/p>\n

MA St-Pierre<\/a>: I find it very positive on many aspects.<\/p>\n

The ALERT<\/a> concept constitutes a formal written request to tobacco buyers with specific reference to section 13.1 of the Tobacco Act, which specifies that upon a retailer’s request, customers are required to prove their majority .<\/p>\n

It goes without saying that for both the customers and the operator, it is very positive to put your cards on the table and say: HERE, you are legally responsible for proving your majority.<\/em> The law allows retailers to do that and it is an important capacity. This mention will have an effect on customers by reminding them that they have a legal obligation to comply with this request and that it must be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

Finally, the ALERT<\/a> signage takes advantage of this new provision of the revised Tobacco Act, which is to the benefit of depanneurs. Other changes, such as higher fines, have the effect of making the sale of tobacco to minors more risky and the consequences of it more severe.<\/p>\n

“It is therefore very useful to build on this capacity conferred by Section 13.1 of the revised Tobacco Act.” – Marc-Antoine St-Pierre<\/a>, Deveau Lawyers<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DepQu\u00e9bec<\/strong>: Of course, it is important to remind that the ALERT Signage<\/a> is not intended to replace the due diligence efforts in place, but rather to add to them.<\/p>\n

MA St-Pierre<\/a>: Absolutely, it’s very important to emphasize that. It is not because you post these signs that your due diligence obligations are met. Depanneurs must act on a number of fronts to prevent the commission of an offense in order to be able to present an adequate defense of due diligence. In particular, they must ensure that they train their employees on an ongoing basis, provide them with clear instructions, sanctions for breaches, verification and monitoring processes, and conclusive evidence on each of these steps.<\/p>\n

“There must be in this respect an obvious demonstration that everything is done to apply the necessary means to prevent the sale of tobacco to minors at each of the hierarchical levels of the business.” – Marc-Antoine St-Pierre<\/a>, Deveau Lawyers<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

QCSA’s We Expect ID<\/a> and Inspectabac<\/a> programs, which provide access to an external verification service by mystery shoppers, are also very useful tools for achieving this goal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
ALERT signage requires tobacco buyers to legally prove their majority, as permitted by section 13.1 of the Revised Tobacco Act (2015).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DepQu\u00e9bec<\/strong>: One of the benefits we are highlighting with the ALERT Signage<\/a> is its impact on governmental mystery-shopping inspections that, we believe, will benefit retailers. What do you think of this argument?<\/p>\n

MA St-Pierre<\/a>: As long as we have not submitted such arguments to the courts, it is speculation as to how they will be received, interpreted and ultimately judged. But using the\u00a0ALERT Signage<\/a> can only help retailers.<\/p>\n

DepQu\u00e9bec<\/strong>: We think, for our part, that if an underage mystery-shopping inspector remains silent when buying in a store equipped with the ALERT Signage<\/a> and catches a retailer, this silence could be held against him.<\/p>\n

MA St-Pierre<\/a>: It is possible to the extent that a judge will interpret that having been subjected to a proper request from the retailer, the inspector had the obligation to prove his age and that he did not do it. We would then potentially be faced with a double fault: that of the retailer who sold tobacco to a minor and that of the inspector who did not obey the law on this specific obligation.<\/p>\n

But there may be many other factors to consider as well: did the inspector see the signage? And even if he has seen it, a judge might consider that this is not enough and that a verbal request is necessary.<\/p>\n

The question of whether the inspector specifically engaged to catch retailers selling tobacco to minors is subject to this obligation will need to be clarified as well as the consequences of failure to comply with such an obligation if it were applicable.<\/p>\n

DepQu\u00e9bec<\/strong>: In closing, would you recommend the ALERT Signage<\/a> to tobacco retailers?<\/p>\n

MA St-Pierre<\/a>: This is a new positive, useful and relevant tool that can be used in a defense against a charge of selling tobacco to a minor.<\/p>\n

It shows the retailer’s concern to avoid the sale of tobacco to minors by supporting employees who are responsible for enforcing the law by taking steps to verify the age of the customers.<\/p>\n

DepQu\u00e9bec<\/strong>: Thank you very much, Mr. St-Pierre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note\u00a0: DepQu\u00e9bec is proud to welcome a new columnist to its team, Marc-Antoine St-Pierre, a lawyer of the firm Deveau<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":113451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1873,223,1878,1737,234],"tags":[1658,1657,951],"class_list":["post-113444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-due-diligence","category-newsdep","category-prodep-zone","category-tobacco-ecig","category-zoom-dep","tag-alert-signage-1","tag-deveau-lawyers","tag-tobacco-sale-to-minors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t