Licence to sell cigarettes, vapes and tobacco products

It is Chapter 4.5 of Joint Regulation No. 9473. Its opening rule defines the scope: for the purposes of this chapter’s licences, cigarettes, cigars, loose tobacco, rolling paper, cigarette tubes, electronic cigarettes, nicotine cartridges and vaporisers are included, collectively understood as cigarettes and tobacco-derived products. The chapter creates two licences — wholesale and retail at a fixed site — plus one per vending machine, and sets sale prohibitions and machine location rules.

The Wholesale Cigarette and Tobacco Products Trafficker Licence at a fixed site is needed by anyone selling to a trafficker, whether or not they keep stock at the sites where they trade or in connection with such a sale. The retail trafficker licence at a fixed site is needed by any trafficker selling exclusively for individual use and consumption, without an intermediary. And anyone operating vending machines also needs a licence for each machine. Natural or legal persons must complete the corresponding application and meet the requirements set in Rule 4.1.4, both to obtain it and to renew it.

• Completing the corresponding application and meeting the requirements set in Rule 4.1.4, both to obtain and to renew each licence.Verified against the official source
• Displaying the wholesale trafficker’s licence and the retail trafficker’s licence in a visible place of the establishment.Verified against the official source
• Displaying each vending machine’s licence in a visible place on the machine it corresponds to.Verified against the official source
• Making every transaction directly and immediately between the two parties, so that the product is not within reach of the person trying to buy it, neither on a counter nor in a self-service device.Verified against the official source
• Posting in a prominent place of the business a copy of the prohibition on selling to minors, in addition to Section 4-A of the "Act to Correct the Exploitation of Underage Children" of 25 February 1902, as amended.Verified against the official source
• Informing OGPe’s Assistant Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury of the location of every machine operated or leased, with the operator’s or lessor’s name and address, make and serial number, and the exact place or address of each machine.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: What counts as a tobacco product here

   The chapter opens by defining its scope, and it is worth reading because it is broader than people assume: for the purposes of this chapter’s licences, cigarettes, cigars, loose tobacco, rolling paper, cigarette tubes, electronic cigarettes, nicotine cartridges and vaporisers are included. That is: vapes, nicotine cartridges and even rolling paper fall under the same licence as cigarettes.

2. 2

   Step 2: The wholesale licence

   Anyone selling to a trafficker — whether or not they keep stock at the sites where they trade or in connection with such a sale — must obtain a Wholesale Cigarette and Tobacco Products Trafficker Licence at a fixed site. That licence is displayed in a visible place of the establishment. The requirements to obtain and to renew it are to complete the corresponding application and meet Rule 4.1.4.

3. 3

   Step 3: The retail licence and the one per machine

   Any trafficker selling exclusively for individual use and consumption, without an intermediary, must obtain a retail cigarette and tobacco products trafficker licence at a fixed site. And there is an additional licence for each vending machine. Display differs in each case: the fixed-site retail trafficker’s goes in a visible place of the establishment; each vending machine’s goes in a visible place on the machine it corresponds to. The requirements, again, are the corresponding application and Rule 4.1.4, both to obtain and to renew.

4. 4

   Step 4: Nothing within the customer’s reach

   This is the counter rule most often broken by accident. Every transaction involving these products must be made directly and immediately between the two parties, so that the product is not within reach of the person trying to buy it, whether by being on a counter or in a self-service device. In other words: the clerk hands the product over; it cannot be left accessible on the counter or in a self-service dispenser.

5. 5

   Step 5: The sale prohibition, and a discrepancy we disclose

   The regulation prohibits selling, donating, dispensing, dispatching or distributing cigarettes, electronic cigarettes or "e-cigarettes", individually or packaged in cartons of any size or any other wrapping, cigars, chewing tobacco or any tobacco preparation inhaled or chewed, of any material that serves to roll cut tobacco for preparing cigarettes, cigars or flavoured cigarettes as defined by Ley 62-1993, to people under eighteen years of age, or to anyone who does not appear to be over twenty-seven and does not present photo identification apparently valid on its face showing they are over eighteen, whether for their own consumption or a third party’s. Now the important caveat, and it is the most useful thing in this guide: this regulation is from 2023 and prints eighteen, but the age the statutes work with is twenty-one. Our guide on selling tobacco to minors is built on Ley 21 of 13 April 1916, as amended, and on Ley 36 of 2026, which amends Section 6042.08 of the Internal Revenue Code; there the age is twenty-one and the sanction includes a twelve-month suspension of the cigarette trafficking licence plus an administrative fine per incident. For this guide we did not re-read those two statutes, so we do not restate their content as verified here: we tell you what this regulation prints, we name the statutes, and we point you to the guide that did read them. And we add advice that is ours and not the text’s: the prudent course for a merchant is not to sell to anyone under twenty-one.

6. 6

   Step 6: The notice you must post

   It is the responsibility of the owner or administrator of the business or commercial establishment where any of those products are sold, donated, dispensed, dispatched or distributed at retail to post in a prominent place of the business a copy of the prohibitions item, in addition to Section 4-A of the "Act to Correct the Exploitation of Underage Children" of 25 February 1902, as amended. That is: the notice is not optional and knowing it is not enough — it has to be put where it can be seen.

7. 7

   Step 7: Where the vending machine may sit

   Where the cigarette vending machine sits in a business or commercial establishment that does not restrict entry to people under eighteen, it is the concessionaire’s responsibility to place the machine where minors have no access to it. And when the machine is operated, the owner or administrator may require from anyone who does not appear to be over twenty-seven any photo identification apparently valid on its face showing they are over eighteen.

8. 8

   Step 8: You must report where each machine is

   Every cigarette vending machine operator must, when applying for the corresponding licences, inform OGPe’s Assistant Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury of the location of every machine it operates or leases, specifying the operator’s or lessor’s name and address, the make and serial number of those machines or devices, and the exact place or address where each machine or device is operating. And if the operator wishes to relocate the machines, it must file the corresponding change-of-address application before OGPe and notify the Secretary of the Treasury. Moving a machine is not an internal matter: it is a filing.

9. 9

   Step 9: Who polices it

   Holding one of these licences within a Permiso Único does not exempt anyone from the Joint Regulation itself, the Internal Revenue Code for a New Puerto Rico, the regulations adopted under it, or any other applicable Treasury law or regulation. Treasury has the power to audit, carry out periodic inspections, fine, and order the stoppage or closure of the operation under the Internal Revenue Code and its regulations; it is responsible for compliance inspections on excise, taxes and any other tax aspect; and its Secretary may examine at any time the books, files, reports and other documents relating to the commercial activity or article subject to these licences.

Before OGPe, a hierarchy I-III autonomous municipality or an Authorised Professional, through the SUI and together with the Permiso Único application or renewal, because the Joint Regulation itself lists the cigarette licences among those filed and evaluated exclusively that way. Vending machine locations and their address changes are reported to OGPe’s Assistant Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury. Oversight of these licences belongs to Treasury.

• Believing vapes and nicotine cartridges fall outside the cigarette licence.
• Taking out a single licence while also having vending machines, which need one each.
• Displaying the machine’s licence on the counter rather than on the machine itself.
• Leaving the product on the counter or in a self-service dispenser within the customer’s reach.
• Failing to post the sale-prohibition notice in a prominent place.
• Placing the vending machine where minors have access in premises with no entry restriction.
• Moving a machine’s address without filing the change before OGPe or notifying Treasury.
• Sticking to the regulation’s age of eighteen without noticing the statutes work with twenty-one.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov