ALEXENDRIA, Va. -- Administrative Law Judge Lewis T. Booker Jr. has ruled in favor of the National Association of Conveniencer Stores (NACS) and Orton Motor Co. regarding a legal challenge the association and retailer filed regarding retail inspections and violations issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), as reported by NACS Online.
Filed in December 2015, the challenge centered on two issues: the fact that retailers have been cited for multiple violations (specifically failing to check an ID and making an underage sale) during a single transaction and/or a single inspection and that retailers have not been given the opportunity to challenge a CTP violation through an official hearing.
On both these issues, Booker ruled in favor of Orton Motor Co. and NACS. Booker said the fact that Orton failed to check an ID and ended up selling a tobacco product to a minor during one specific transaction resulted in one violation of the Tobacco Control Act (whereas the CTP alleged it amounted to two violations). Booker also ruled that this May 2015 violation was Orton’s first official violation due to the fact that Orton was not given the opportunity to request a hearing to challenge a warning letter for a 2013 violation. Without this necessary due process to challenge a violation, that first violation was null and void.
“The judge’s ruling vindicates NACS's longtime view that CTP was enforcing the law in a way that was inconsistent with the language of the law,” the NACS Online report read.
The CTP has 30 days to appeal the decision.
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