Manufacturers and importers, distributors and retailers of regulated products must keep accurate sales records.
Record-keeping requirements
The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 (the Act) requires manufacturers, importers, exporters, distributors and retailers of regulated products (smoked tobacco, vaping, herbal smoking and smokeless tobacco products) keep accurate records for all of their regulated products, including details of:
- all the regulated products that they manufacture, import, export, buy, sell, or supply; and
- for a manufacturer, the constituents required by regulations to be recorded that the manufacturer uses or intends to use in the manufacture of each regulated product.
The VRA expects that a manufacturer/importer/exporter keeps accurate records as part of their normal business practice. There is no mandatory format that businesses must use for their records. However, a template is provided for vape and general retailers, manufacturers, and importers to support returns be completed accurately. We encourage all returns to be submitted using this template.
The Act does not say exactly what records must be kept but records should include at least:
- What products you have purchased, who they were purchased from and when
- What products you have sold and when
- Purchase and sale prices of all products
- Who you sold products to and when (for distributors, manufacturers and importers – retailers do not need to tell us about all their customers)
- Batch/serial numbers of products bought and sold.
Manufacturers should also include:
- Constituents (ingredients) used or intended to be used in the manufacture of each regulated product
- What constituents they have purchased, who they purchased them from and when
- Batch/serial numbers of constituents bought and sold.
Records must be kept for at least 3 years. An enforcement officer may require a person to provide a copy of the records kept, which they will do formally in writing. The person must provide the enforcement officer with a copy of the records, in the format required in the notice, within 10 working days of receiving the notice.