While legislators work to reduce tobacco use through smoke-free laws and high tobacco taxes, some businesses are enacting their own plans. Walmart just announced it is raising its sale age to 21.

As part of a strategy to curb tobacco use among minors, the retail giant announced on Wednesday that they will no longer sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to anyone under 21. The new policy will go into effect on July 1.

In April, Walmart was warned by the FDA that the company would be fined if it continued to illegally sell these products to minors. The retailer responded via letter that it would be making company-wide changes to comply with the law.

In addition to raising the minimum sale age, Walmart stated that upgrades will be made to its age verification system and it will halt all sales of flavored e-cigarettes. The policies will also extend to their Sam’s Club stores.

Walmart also admitted that they need to make improvements when it comes to how employees handle age checks for shoppers, and that moving forward, disciplinary action will be imposed. Prior to the FDA warning, they either retrained employees or let them slide when it came to “secret shopper checks.” That will no longer be the case.

To hear more about Walmart’s policy change, watch the video below.

Did you realize Walmart was slacking in its age check protocols for tobacco sales? Do you think this change is a good move?