Background: Achieving high retailer compliance with sales to minors laws is a strategy to reduce adolescent smoking. In South Australia controlled purchase operations to monitor and enforce retailer compliance with sales to minors regulations began in 2002. The process for prosecuting retailers caught selling cigarettes to minors was found to be both time consuming and expensive and resulted in very few prosecutions.

In 2004 amendments to the Tobacco Products Regulation Act included the introduction of expiation notices (on-the-spot fines) for sales to minors offences.

Discussion: An expiation process was developed in conjunction with the South Australian Police Expiation Branch which enables Authorised Officers to expiate an offender and leave the processing of the fines and the follow up of non-payment to the Expiation Branch.

Expiations for sales to minors offences were issued for the first time in April 2005. The process was found to be very efficient and it enabled more retailers to be tested. Sixty seven on the spot fines were issued to retailers selling cigarettes to minors during 2005 and 2006.

Issuing on-the-spot fines did not result in greater retailer compliance but did allow for a greater cross section of retailers to be tested with rapid results.

Conclusion: The issuing of on-the-spot fines is a more efficient way to enforce sales to minors legislation. However, there are several elements necessary to achieve greater retailer compliance and these will be discussed by the speakers.