3.2-4212 - Penalties and other remedies.
§ 3.2-4212. Penalties and other remedies.
A. In addition to any other civil or criminal penalty or remedy provided bylaw, upon a determination that any person has violated § 3.2-4207 or anyregulation adopted pursuant thereto, the Commissioner may revoke or suspendsuch person's privilege to purchase tax stamps at a discounted rate. Eachstamp affixed and each offer to sell cigarettes in violation of § 3.2-4207shall constitute a separate violation. Upon a determination of a violation of§ 3.2-4207 or any regulations adopted pursuant thereto, the Commissioner mayalso impose a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed the greater of (i) 500percent of the retail value of the cigarettes sold or (ii) $5,000.
B. Any cigarettes that have been sold, offered for sale or possessed for salein the Commonwealth, or imported for personal consumption in theCommonwealth, in violation of § 3.2-4207, shall be deemed contraband and maynot be sold or offered for sale unless such cigarettes are listed in theDirectory. Any such cigarettes that are sold or offered for sale when notincluded in the Directory shall be subject to confiscation and forfeiture.Any such confiscation and forfeiture shall be governed by the procedurescontained in § 4.1-338, which shall apply mutatis mutandis; except that allsuch cigarettes so confiscated and forfeited shall be destroyed and notresold.
C. The Attorney General may seek an injunction to restrain a threatened oractual violation of § 3.2-4207, subsection A of § 3.2-4209, subsection B of §3.2-4209, or subsection C of § 3.2-4209 by a stamping agent and to compel thestamping agent to comply with such provisions. In any action brought pursuantto this subsection in which the Commonwealth prevails, the Commonwealth shallbe entitled to recover the reasonable costs of investigation, costs of theaction and reasonable attorneys' fees.
D. It shall be unlawful for a person to (i) sell or distribute cigarettes or(ii) acquire, hold, own, possess, transport, import, or cause to be importedcigarettes that the person knows or should know are intended for distributionor sale in the Commonwealth in violation of § 3.2-4207. A violation of thissection involving less than 3,000 packages of cigarettes is a Class 1misdemeanor. A violation of this section involving 3,000 or more packages ofcigarettes is a Class 1 misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, the sentence ofsuch person shall include a mandatory minimum term of confinement of 90 days.
(2003, c. 798, § 3.1-336.10; 2006, c. 674; 2008, cc. 758, 860; 2009, c. 847.)