GA Code § 10-13-2 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 10 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 13 - Tobacco Product Manufacturers|§ 10-13-2. Definitions

 As used in this chapter, the term:    "Adjusted for inflation" means increased in accordance with the formula for inflation adjustment set forth in Exhibit C to the Master Settlement Agreement.   "Affiliate" means a person who directly or indirectly owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with, another person. Solely for purposes of this definition, the terms "owns," "is owned," and "ownership" mean ownership of an equity interest, or the equivalent thereof of 10 percent or more, and the term "person" means an individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, or any other organization or group of persons.   "Allocable share" means Allocable Share as that term is defined in the Master Settlement Agreement.   "Cigarette" means any product that contains nicotine, is intended to be burned or heated under ordinary conditions of use, and consists of or contains (A) any roll of tobacco wrapped in paper or in any substance not containing tobacco; or (B) tobacco, in any form, that is functional in the product, which, because of its appearance, the type of tobacco used in the filler, or its packaging and labeling, is likely to be offered to, or purchased by, consumers as a cigarette; or (C) any roll of tobacco wrapped in any substance containing tobacco which, because of its appearance, the type of tobacco used in the filler, or its packaging and labeling, is likely to be offered to, or purchased by, consumers as a cigarette described in clause (A) of this definition. The term "cigarette" includes "roll-your-own" (i.e., any tobacco which, because of its appearance, type, packaging, or labeling is suitable for use and likely to be offered to, or purchased by, consumers as tobacco for making cigarettes). For purposes of this definition of "cigarette," 0.09 ounces of "roll-your-own" tobacco shall constitute one individual "cigarette."   "Importer" means any person in the United States to whom nonfederal excise tax-paid cigarettes manufactured in a foreign country are shipped or consigned, any person who removes cigarettes for sale or consumption in the United States from a customs bonded manufacturing warehouse, or any person who smuggles or otherwise unlawfully brings cigarettes into the United States.   "Master Settlement Agreement" means the settlement agreement (and related documents) entered into on November 23, 1998, by the state and leading United States tobacco product manufacturers.   "Qualified escrow fund" means an escrow arrangement with a federally or state chartered financial institution having no affiliation with any tobacco product manufacturer and having assets of at least $1 billion where such arrangement requires that such financial institution hold the escrowed funds' principal for the benefit of releasing parties and prohibits the tobacco product manufacturer placing the funds into escrow from using, accessing, or directing the use of the funds' principal except as consistent with subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of Code Section 10-13-3. The principal balance in the qualified escrow fund must always be maintained so that both the face value and the cost basis of the account are each equal to or greater than the accumulated principal deposits.   "Released claims" means Released Claims as that term is defined in the Master Settlement Agreement.   "Releasing parties" means Releasing Parties as that term is defined in the Master Settlement Agreement.   "Tobacco product manufacturer" means an entity that after April 28, 1999, directly (and not exclusively through any affiliate):   Manufactures cigarettes anywhere that such manufacturer intends to be sold in the United States, including cigarettes intended to be sold in the United States through an importer (except where such importer is an original participating manufacturer (as that term is defined in the Master Settlement Agreement) that will be responsible for the payments under the Master Settlement Agreement with respect to such cigarettes as a result of the provisions of subsection II(mm) of the Master Settlement Agreement and that pays the taxes specified in subsection II(z) of the Master Settlement Agreement, and provided that the manufacturer of such cigarettes does not market or advertise such cigarettes in the United States);   Is the first purchaser anywhere for resale in the United States of cigarettes manufactured anywhere that the manufacturer does not intend to be sold in the United States; or   Becomes a successor of an entity described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of this paragraph.  The term "tobacco product manufacturer" shall not include an affiliate of a tobacco product manufacturer unless such affiliate itself falls within subparagraphs (A) through (C) of this paragraph.      "Units sold" means the number of individual cigarettes sold in the state by the applicable tobacco product manufacturer (whether directly or through a distributor, retailer, or similar intermediary or intermediaries) during the year in question, on packs required to bear a tax stamp pursuant to Code Section 48-11-3 and on "roll-your-own" tobacco on which excise tax is due either by tax stamp or pursuant to an alternate method of taxation. "Units sold" does not include cigarettes the purchase or use of which the state is prohibited from taxing under the Constitution or statutes of the United States. The state revenue commissioner and the Attorney General may promulgate such regulations as are necessary to ascertain the amount of state excise tax paid on the cigarettes of such tobacco product manufacturer for each year.     (Code 1981, §10-13-2, enacted by Ga. L. 1999, p. 725, § 1; Ga. L. 2016, p. 528, § 1/HB 899; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 10/HB 323.)    The 2016 amendment,  effective July 1, 2016, added paragraph (5); redesignated former paragraphs (6) through (10) as present paragraphs (7) through (11), respectively; added the second sentence in paragraph (7); substituted "subsection II(mm)" for "subsections II(mm)" in the middle of subparagraph (10)(A); and, in paragraph (11), substituted "on packs required to bear a tax stamp pursuant to Code Section 48-11-3 and on 'roll-your-own' tobacco on which excise tax is due either by tax stamp or pursuant to an alternate method of taxation" for "as measured by excise taxes collected by the state on packs (or 'roll-your-own' tobacco containers) bearing the excise tax stamp of the state" and added the second sentence.    The 2017 amendment,  effective May 9, 2017, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted "April 28, 1999," for "the date of enactment of this chapter" near the middle of paragraph (10).   Code Commission notes.   - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1999, "$1 billion" was substituted for "$1,000,000,000.00" in paragraph (6) (now paragraph (7)).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Misinterpretation of Attorney's General power under O.C.G.A.    § 10-13A-4(b). - Trial court committed an error of law by affirming a decision of the Georgia Attorney General (AG) that a cigarette manufacturer was not a tobacco product manufacturer under the Georgia Qualifying Statute, O.C.G.A. § 10-13-2(9), and, therefore, could not sell cigarettes under its brand name in Georgia since the AG's decision was based in part on a misinterpretation of O.C.G.A. § 10-13A-4(b) and the AG's retention of the ability to have the manufacturer cure any certification deficiencies. Carolina Tobacco Co. v. Baker, 295 Ga. App. 115, 670 S.E.2d 811 (2008).