Smoking product supplier licensing scheme

Retail (liquor) licence

A retail (liquor) licence authorises you to sell smoking products to the public from a liquor licensed premises. Only a liquor licensee may apply for a retail (liquor) licence. A copy of your liquor licence for the premises is required as part of the application process.

If you want to sell smoking products from more than 1 liquor licensed premises, you must apply and obtain a licence for each premises.

A retail (liquor) licence limits the supply of smoking products from the liquor licensed premises. Online supply of smoking products is not permitted.

Wholesale licence

A wholesale licence authorises you to sell smoking products by wholesale to licensed retailers from a wholesale premises or an online wholesale outlet.

If you want to sell smoking products from more than 1 wholesale premises, you must submit a separate application and hold a licence for each premises. Where your wholesale premises has an online outlet for online sales connected to the wholesale premises, a single wholesale licence authorises you to sell smoking products from both.

Duration of licence

A smoking product supplier licence will take effect on the day stated on the licence and be valid for 12 months.

If you are a corporation with multiple licences, you can choose to have all your licences renew on the same day. Any new licence application at a later date will then be aligned with your existing licences. You can do this by selecting to group your licence renewals when you submit your first application.

In this instance where a new licence is to be grouped to align with an existing licence renewal date, the licence will be granted for a period less than 12 months and the amount payable will be adjusted pro-rata.

Renewal

You must submit smoking product supplier licence renewals online.

You must apply to renew a licence before its expiry date. A reminder about its expiry will be issued within 28 days before the date it expires. It is your responsibility to ensure your licence remains current. If a reminder notice is not received, you can still apply to renew your licence online within the 28-day period.

Licence fees

The retail and wholesale licence fees are set using the Queensland Government fee unit. From 1 July 2023, the fee unit was priced at $1.06. Based on this fee unit price, the licence fees are:

Retail (liquor) licence applications will not incur a fee.

*Note: The fee unit value is reviewed each financial year and updated to reflect indexation. The dollar amount may change after 30 June 2024.

Get in early – pay only for the months from 1 September 2024 until renewal.

Early applicants will pay a reduced amount. If you apply before 31 July 2024, the amount payable for a licence will be reduced to reflect the time between the required licensed period of 1 September 2024 and when your licence will be due for renewal. For more information, refer to duration of licence above.

This table is provided as a guide only and your actual renewal date will be determined when your licence is issued.

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible to provide sufficient time for your licence application to be processed. We expect a high volume of applications and this will impact our processing times. If you submit a licence application after 31 May 2024, it may not be processed before it becomes an offence to supply smoking products without a licence on 1 September 2024.

For more information about fees, see:

• section 2 of the Acts Interpretation (Fee Unit) Regulation 2022
• section 48B of the Acts Interpretation Act 1954
• Queensland Treasury's principles for fees and charges.

Obligations for licensees

As a licensee it is important to understand your obligations within the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1998 (Qld) (the Act) and give notice to the Queensland Health within 14 days of any of these circumstances occurring:

• the licensee is convicted of any of the offences listed in section 46 of the Act
• if the licensee is an individual – the licensee is an insolvent under administration under section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cwlth); or the licensee is disqualified from managing corporations under part 2D.6 of the Corporations Act.
• an executor, administrator or trustee becomes the licensee under section 44 or 45 of the Act
• if the licensee is a corporation – the corporation is placed into administration, receivership, or liquidation; or there is a change of directors for the corporation
• if the licensee sells smoking products at liquor licensed premises – the liquor licence for the premises is suspended, cancelled, or otherwise ceases to have effect
• there is a change in the ownership of the business for the retail or wholesale licence
• the premises for a retail or wholesale outlet of the licensee changes
• the name, or business name, of the licensee changes.

For more information, refer to the Act.

Public register

A public register of smoking product supplier licences will be available soon. The register will provide licence details for retail or wholesale outlets including the licence number, business name and address, licence expiry date and any conditions on the licence.

News and updates

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