Illegal tobacco sales to minors declined this year to their lowest rate since the state began conducting its annual survey to determine how well retailers comply with tobacco laws, according to the state Department of Health.

The survey, a series of random, unannounced inspections conducted by the department’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division and the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, found a noncompliance rate of 4.3 percent, compared with 6.1 percent last year and the state’s previous low of 4.6 percent in 2010.

When the state first conducted the survey in 1996, the noncompliance rate was nearly 45 precent.

“The declining rate for illegal tobacco sales to minors shows the department’s efforts to educate store owners and retail clerks are working,” state Health Director Loretta Fuddy said in a press release. “However, now more than ever, with an increasing variety of tobacco products becoming available, we need to continue to be vigilant about protecting our youth.”

Last spring, volunteers age 15 to 17 and adult observers went to 209 stores statewide that sell tobacco.

Some 85 percent of stores carded the minors, according to Lezlie Aano, tobacco sales control coordinator at the Health Department. Nine stores, six on Oahu and three on Hawaii island, sold tobacco products to minors.

The state conducts the visits to comply with federal regulations that require all states to have and enforce laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to youths under 18.

If a state’s noncompliance rate exceeds 20 percent, it is penalized 40 percent of its substance abuse prevention and treatment federal funding for that year.

Since federal fiscal year 2006, all states have had noncompliance rates under the 20 percent threshold.

In addition to the survey, “throughout the year, to continue to qualify for block grant funding, we go to retailers and conduct enforcement stings,” Aano said. “We go out with county police departments and do inspections of the stores.”

Clerks found selling tobacco to minors are cited and can be fined $500 to $2,000. In fiscal year 2011, 91 clerks were cited for selling tobacco illegally to minors.

Under state law, store owners are not cited, but results of the stings are published on the state Department of Health website.

Through the tobacco prevention and education program, the state provides retailers with training tools to help them educate store clerks about state tobacco laws and how to avoid selling tobacco to minors, Aano said.