2021 Georgia Code
Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses
Chapter 12 - Offenses Against Public Health and Morals
Article 7 - Sale or Distribution To, or Possession By, Minors of Cigarettes and Tobacco Related Objects
§ 16-12-170. Definitions

As used in this article, the term:

1. "Alternative nicotine product" means any noncombustible product containing nicotine that is intended for human consumption, whether chewed, absorbed, dissolved, or ingested by any other means. Such term shall not include any tobacco product, vapor product, or product regulated as a drug or device by the United States Food and Drug Administration under Chapter V of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
2. "Cigar wraps" means individual cigar wrappers, known as wraps, blunt wraps, or roll your own cigar wraps, that consist in whole or in part of reconstituted tobacco leaf or flavored tobacco leaf.
3. "Cigarette" means roll for smoking made wholly or in part of tobacco when the cover of the roll is paper or any substance other than tobacco.
4. "Community service" means a public service which an individual under the age of 21 years might appropriately be required to perform, as determined by the court, as punishment for certain offenses provided for in this article.
5. "Person" means any natural person or any firm, partnership, company, corporation, or other entity.
6. "Proper identification" means any document issued by a governmental agency containing a description of the individual, such individual's photograph, or both, and giving such individual's date of birth and includes, without being limited to, a passport, military identification card, driver's license, or an identification card authorized under Code Sections 40-5-100 through 40-5-104. Proper identification shall not include a birth certificate.
7. "Tobacco product" means any cigars, little cigars, granulated, plug cut, crimp cut, ready rubbed, and other smoking tobacco; snuff or snuff powder; cavendish; plug and twist tobacco; fine-cut and other chewing tobaccos; shorts; refuse scraps, clippings, cuttings, and sweepings of tobacco; and other kinds and forms of tobacco, prepared in such a manner as to be suitable for chewing or smoking in a pipe or otherwise, or both for chewing and smoking. Such term shall not include any alternative nicotine product, vapor product, or product regulated as a drug or device by the United States Food and Drug Administration under Chapter V of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
8. "Tobacco related objects" means any papers, wrappers, or other products, devices, or substances, including cigar wraps, which are used for the purpose of making cigarettes or tobacco products in any form whatsoever.
9. "Vapor product" means any noncombustible product containing nicotine that employs a heating element, power source, electronic circuit, or other electronic, chemical, or mechanical means, regardless of shape or size, that can be used to produce vapor or aerosol from nicotine or other substances in a solution or other form. Such term shall include, but shall not be limited to, any electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, electronic pipe, or similar product or device and any vapor or aerosol cartridge or other container of nicotine or other substance in a solution or other form, including, but not limited to, a device component, part, or accessory of the device, that is intended to be used with or in an electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, electronic pipe, or similar product or device. Such term shall not include any product regulated as a drug or device by the United States Food and Drug Administration under Chapter V of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

(Code 1981, §16-12-170, enacted by Ga. L. 1987, p. 945, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 14, § 16; Ga. L. 1993, p. 343, § 1; Ga. L. 2013, p. 795, § 1/HB 256; Ga. L. 2014, p. 130, § 1/HB 251; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 16/HB 323; Ga. L. 2020, p. 257, § 1/SB 375.)

The 2017 amendment, effective May 9, 2017, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation in paragraph (7).

The 2020 amendment, effective July 22, 2020, in paragraph (1), substituted "Such term shall" for "The term 'alternative nicotine product' shall" and deleted "any" preceding "product regulated"; substituted "an individual under the age of 21 years might" for "a minor might" in paragraph (4); deleted former paragraph (5), which read: " 'Minor' means any person who is under the age of 18 years."; redesignated former paragraphs (6) through (10) as present paragraphs (5) through (9), respectively; in paragraph (6), substituted "individual" for "person" and "individual's" for "person's" twice; substituted "Such term shall" for "The term 'tobacco product' shall" in paragraph (7); and rewrote paragraph (9), which read: " 'Vapor product' means any noncombustible product containing nicotine that employs a heating element, power source, electronic circuit, or other electronic, chemical, or mechanical means, regardless of shape or size, that can be used to produce vapor from nicotine in a solution or other form. The term 'vapor product' shall include any electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, electronic pipe, or similar product or device and any vapor cartridge or other container of nicotine in a solution or other form that is intended to be used with or in an electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, electronic pipe, or similar product or device. The term 'vapor product' shall not include any product regulated as a drug or device by the United States Food and Drug Administration under Chapter V of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act."

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Allowable Regulation of Electronic Cigarettes (E-Cigarettes), 46 A.L.R.7th Art. 5.