"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% or more, and the term "person" means an individual,
partnership, committee, association, corporation, or any other organization or
group of persons.
"Distributor" means any and each of the following:
Any person engaged in the business of selling cigarettes in
this State who brings or causes to be brought into this State from outside this
State any original packages of cigarettes, on which original packages there is
no authorized evidence underneath a sealed transparent wrapper showing that the
tax liability imposed by the Cigarette Tax Act has been paid or assumed by the
out-of-State seller of such cigarettes, for sale or other disposition in the
course of such business.
Any person who makes, manufactures or fabricates cigarettes in
this State for sale in this State.
Any person who makes, manufactures or fabricates cigarettes
outside this State, which cigarettes are placed in original packages contained
in sealed transparent wrappers, for delivery or shipment into this State, and
who elects to qualify and is accepted by the Department as a distributor under
Section 4b of the Cigarette Tax Act.
"Master Settlement Agreement" means the settlement agreement
(and related documents) entered into on November 23, 1998 by the State of
Illinois and leading United States tobacco product manufacturers.
"Participating manufacturer" means a tobacco product
manufacturer who participates in the Master Settlement Agreement as provided in
Section II(jj) of the Master Settlement Agreement.
"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 $1,000,000,000
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 subdivision (a)(2)(B) of Section 15 of the Tobacco Product Manufacturers'
Escrow Act.
"Tobacco product manufacturer":
means any entity that, after June 30, 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
this definition.
does not mean an affiliate of a tobacco product manufacturer
unless the affiliate itself falls within this definition.
"Unit sold" means an individual cigarette sold in the State of
Illinois by the applicable tobacco product manufacturer (whether directly or
through a distributor, retailer, or similar intermediary or intermediaries)
during the year in question, as measured by excise taxes collected by the State
on packs bearing the excise tax stamp of the State.
