Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) has filed an administrative complaint, seeking civil money penalty from yet another local store for violation of federal laws - selling tobacco products to minors.

The new complaint seeks $570 from Damin, Inc., d/b/a Aiga Mart, in Pago Pago, according to the Oct. 7th complaint, made public last week Thursday through federal portal [regulations.gov]. It also cites dates when Aiga Mart sold tobacco products to a person younger than 18 years old without verifying the person’s identification.

The complaint says that on June 8, 2019 an FDA-commissioned inspector conducted an inspection of Aiga Mart, during which the store sold a package of Marlboro cigarettes to a minor. Thirty days later, on July 8th, the store was issued a Notice of Compliance Check Inspection regarding the violation.

Another violation cited in the complaint occurred May 21, 2018 where a minor purchased a package of Benson cigarettes. CTP issued on Aug. 16, 2018 a warning letter to Aiga Mart regarding the documented violation.

The warning letter stated that failure to correct the violations may result in a civil money penalty action, or other regulatory action by FDA. Additionally, it’s the responsibility of Aiga Mart to ensure compliance with the law and that the letter was not intended as an exhaustive list of violations, according to the complaint, which also provides the specific dates and time frame for Aiga Mart to respond to the complaint, and its right to appeal