2021 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 11 - Public Finance
Chapter 48 - Tobacco Qualified Escrow Fund Enforcement
Section 11-48-60. Enforcement by revocation or suspension of license of cigarette distributor, civil penalties, forfeitures, and injunctions; costs.

(A) In addition to or instead of another civil or criminal remedy provided by law, upon a determination that a cigarette distributor has violated Section 11-48-30(C) or a regulation promulgated pursuant to it, the Attorney General may cause to be revoked or suspended the license of a cigarette distributor in the manner provided by Sections 12-60-1310 through 12-60-1350. Each stamp affixed, should such a stamp be required by law, and each offer to sell cigarettes in violation of Section 11-48-30(C) constitutes a separate violation. The Attorney General also may impose a civil penalty for each violation in an amount not to exceed the greater of five times the retail value of the cigarettes or five thousand dollars upon a determination of violation of Section 11-48-30(C).

(B) Cigarettes that have been sold, offered, or possessed for sale in this State or imported for personal consumption in this State in a civil or criminal violation of Section 11-48-30(C) are declared contraband, and may be seized pending adjudication of the violation. Upon a determination of violation, the cigarettes are forfeited and must be destroyed.

(C) The Attorney General may seek an injunction to restrain a threatened or actual violation of Sections 11-48-30(C)(1), 11-48-50(A), or 11-48-50(D) by a cigarette distributor and to compel the cigarette distributor to comply with the sections. In an action brought pursuant to this section, the State may recover the costs of investigation, costs of the action, and reasonable attorney's fees.

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 61, Section 1.A.