What Is the Legal Age for Smoking in the United Kingdom?
Last Updated Apr 16, 2020 4:07:40 PM ET
The legal age in which a person can purchase tobacco products to smoke in the United Kingdom is 18, as stated by FindLaw. This law went into effect on October 1, 2007 in England and Wales and earlier in Scotland. The law was created so that the age for buying cigarettes matched the age for buying alcohol.
Anyone who breaks the law by selling cigarettes to someone under age 18 risks losing their license to sell tobacco for up to 1 year. If a police officer sees someone under age 16 smoking cigarettes, they are legally required to confiscate the products, as noted by FindLaw. In addition, smoking was banned from enclosed public places in the U.K. as of July 1, 2007, as reported by The Guardian.
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