In the matter of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
ASSURANCE OF VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE
V. Other Tobacco Policies
A. Written Policies
B. Policies Provided to Attorneys General
C. Contribution
Beginning on the Effective Date, Wal-Mart’s policies relating to the sale of tobacco products to underage persons shall be in written or electronic form. Within sixty (60) days after the Effective Date, or upon hiring if that occurs thereafter, Wal-Mart shall provide to each store employee (1) a copy in written or electronic form of all of the youth-access policies with which that employee must comply, and (2) copies in written or electronic form of all of the youth-access policies with which store employees in the same store who are supervised (either directly or through an intermediate supervisor) by that employee must comply. Except with respect to Wal-Mart’s policy to comply with state laws that forbid persons younger than a specified age from selling alcohol, Wal-Mart’s policies intended to prevent sales of tobacco products to underage persons shall, beginning on the Effective Date, be no less stringent or comprehensive than policies intended to prevent sales of alcohol to persons too young to buy alcohol legally. It is understood that differences in the law may require differences in policy. Wal-Mart’s policies shall, at minimum, conform to the standards and practices relating to personnel, support tools, self-monitoring, and employee-assisted sales set forth in this Assurance and shall also, beginning on the Effective Date, include the following:
1. A policy that no underage person is permitted to purchase cigarette papers, pipes, or other such paraphernalia that are used exclusively in connection with the use of tobacco products.
2. A policy that Wal-Mart will give comparable treatment to youth access to tobacco products as it gives to access to alcohol by persons too young to purchase alcohol legally in employee training and discipline, except where differences in the law require differences in policy.
3. A policy against increasing youth demand for tobacco products through in-store advertising. In-store advertising shall be located only at the place in the store at which the particular advertised tobacco products are displayed or sold, and shall be limited to brand names, logos, other trademarks, and pricing.
4. A policy against sales of single cigarettes or other modes of packaging cigarettes in packs with fewer than twenty (i.e., so-called “kiddie packs”).
5. A policy against distribution of free samples of tobacco products on store property.
6. A policy requiring age verification (using a method permitted by Section V.A.8 of this Assurance) in connection with retail tobacco product purchases by persons who reasonably appear to be under age 27 or such higher age as Wal-Mart in its sole discretion determines appropriate for its stores.
7. A policy against the retail sale of non-tobacco products that are intended to look like tobacco products, such as bubble-gum cigars or candy cigarettes.
8. Unless a more accurate method of age verification is allowed by law, a policy that only currently valid photo-identification will be acceptable for purposes of establishing the legal age to purchase tobacco products at retail, and that only the following forms of identification shall be accepted: (a) Driver’s License, (b) State-Issued Identification Card; (c) U.S. Passport; (d) Military Identification Card; and (e) U.S. Immigration Card.
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B. Policies provided to Attorneys General
Wal-Mart shall provide a copy of the youth-access policies with which employees who directly sell tobacco products to retail customers must comply to a person or persons designated to receive such policies on behalf of the Attorneys General within sixty (60) days after the Effective Date, and thereafter shall provide copies of any material changes or modifications to such policies to a person or persons designated by the Attorneys General to receive them within thirty (30) days after such change or modification.
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Wal-Mart agrees to pay, no later than October 3, 2003, the sum of $437,500 to the States, made payable to such accounts and addresses as the Attorneys General may direct. This payment is made in settlement of the claims of the Attorneys General as set forth above, except that no part of the payment is made in settlement of an actual or potential liability for a fine, penalty, or enhanced damages or is the cost of a tangible or intangible asset or other future benefit. Such sum is to be divided by the States as they may agree, and is to be used by the individual States for attorneys fees or costs of investigation, or it shall be placed in or applied to consumer education, public protection, or local consumer aid funds, including for implementation of programs designed to decrease possession and use of tobacco by underage persons, or for any other purpose authorized by state law at the sole discretion of each State’s Attorney General or as otherwise required by law.
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