18 U.S.C. § 2343 — Recordkeeping, reporting, and inspection

(a) A person who ships, sells, or distributes more than 10,000 cigarettes, or more than 500 single-unit consumer-sized cans or packages of smokeless tobacco, in one transaction must keep information about the shipment, receipt, sale, and distribution of cigarettes as the Attorney General requires by rule or regulation. The Attorney General may require the person to keep information appropriate for enforcing this chapter, including: (1) the name, address, and destination, including the street address; the vehicle license number; the driver’s license number; the signature of the person receiving the cigarettes; and the purchaser’s name; (2) a statement of the specific purpose of the receipt—personal use, resale, or delivery to another; and (3) when the recipient is acting as an agent, a statement of the name and address of the recipient’s principal. The information must be in business records kept in the normal course of business. (b) A person, other than a tribal government, who makes a delivery sale and, in one month, ships, sells, or distributes more than 10,000 cigarettes, more than 500 single-unit consumer-sized cans or packages of smokeless tobacco, or their equivalent, must submit a report to the Attorney General under the Attorney General’s rules or regulations. The report must state: (1) the person’s total beginning and ending inventory of cigarettes and cans or packages of smokeless tobacco for that month; (2) the total amount of cigarettes and cans or packages of smokeless tobacco the person received during that month from each other person, listed by name and address; and (3) the total amount of cigarettes and cans or packages of smokeless tobacco the person distributed during that month to each person other than a retail purchaser, listed by name and address. (c)(1) During normal business hours, any officer of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives may enter the premises of a person described in subsection (a) or (b) to inspect: (A) records or information that this chapter requires the person to keep; or (B) cigarettes or smokeless tobacco that the person keeps or stores at the premises. (2) In a civil action under this subsection, a United States district court may compel an inspection authorized by paragraph (1). (3) A person who denies an officer access under paragraph (1), or who fails to comply with an order issued under paragraph (2), is subject to a civil penalty of up to $10,000. (d) A report that this chapter requires someone to submit to the Attorney General must also be submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the attorneys general and tax administrators of the States where the shipment, delivery, or distribution both began and ended. (e) In this section, “delivery sale” means any sale of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco in interstate commerce to a consumer if: (1) the consumer places the order by telephone or another voice-transmission method, mail, the Internet, another online service, or another method in which the consumer is not in the same physical location as the seller when the purchase or offer of sale is made; or (2) the cigarettes or smokeless tobacco are delivered by mail, common carrier, private delivery service, or another method in which the consumer is not in the same physical location as the seller when the consumer obtains physical possession of the cigarettes or smokeless tobacco. This section does not define “delivery sale” beyond this definition. (f) In this section, “interstate commerce” means commerce between a State and a place outside the State, or between points in the same State through a place outside the State. This section does not define “interstate commerce” beyond this definition.