Online sales of age restricted products
It is the responsibility of retailers to ensure they do not sell age restricted products to people under the legal age of purchase, and this presents particular issues when selling via the internet. Retailers must have effective systems in place for preventing sales to underage prospective customers.
This guide is applies to all products that have age restrictions on sales - for example, alcohol, spray paints, fireworks, solvents, video recordings and games, and cigarettes.
In the guide
Duty of retailers
Checks unlikely to satisfy 'due diligence'
Age verification checks
Further information
Duty of retailers
It is the responsibility of retailers to ensure they do not sell age restricted products online to people under the legal age of purchase. This means setting up effective systems capable of verifying the age of potential purchasers to ensure they are above the minimum legal age to purchase a product. When making an assessment of such systems, account should be taken of legal requirements to take all reasonable precautions and to exercise all due diligence to avoid committing an offence. These legal requirements are a retailer's defence in consumer protection legislation.
Such systems should be regularly monitored and updated as necessary, to identify and rectify any problems or weaknesses in the system or to keep pace with advances in available technology.
There is no definitive answer as to what constitutes taking all reasonable precautions or exercising all due diligence. However, past court case decisions in relation to other areas of consumer protection have established that if positive steps or precautions are not taken, a defence is likely to fail.
Risk analysis, including investigation of the options available to overcome risks, is required to identify and investigate what precautions and steps could be taken.
Checks unlikely to satisfy 'due diligence'
Retailers should take positive steps to verify the age of the purchaser when selling age restricted products. The following are examples that are unlikely to be enough to satisfy the requirements of taking all reasonable precautions and exercising all due diligence:
relying on the purchaser confirming they are over the minimum age
asking the purchaser simply to provide a date of birth
using tick boxes to ask purchasers to confirm they are over the minimum age
using a general disclaimer such as 'anyone ordering this product from our website will be deemed to be at least 18'
using an 'accept' statement for the purchaser to confirm they have read the terms and conditions and they are over the minimum age
using e-payment services such as PayPal, Nochex or Worldpay. These services may require a customer to be over 18, but they may not verify a user's age
Young people will seek to challenge conventions and test boundaries. In the case of online sales, young people could potentially evade the stringent proof of age checks that are required on the high street unless retailers make positive checks.
Age verification checks
The following is a guide to possible steps and precautions that retailers could adopt to assist with age verification. However, it should be noted that these may not be suitable for some situations and retailers will need to assess what steps are suitable and appropriate to their individual circumstances. Retailers may be able to develop other methods of age verification.
Many websites now require purchasers to register details or to set up accounts for future purchases, which means that age verification checks may only be required for the initial set-up of accounts or on the first purchase from the website.
PAYMENT BY CREDIT CARD
At the moment, credit cards are generally available only to those over 18. Payment or verification of the purchaser using a credit (as opposed to a debit) card could serve to verify that the principal cardholder for the credit card is over 18.
PAYMENT BY PREPAID/DEBIT CARD
A retailer could check which prepaid/debit cards are coded to differentiate between adult purchasers and underage purchasers and accept them as a method of payment.
AGE VERIFICATION ON DELIVERY
Retailers could use age verification checks at the point of delivery by ensuring that delivery drivers request a valid proof of age to confirm that the purchaser is over the minimum age to buy the product in question. It should be noted that third party couriers may not accept responsibility for age verification.
ONLINE AGE VERIFICATION CHECKS
Online age verification software is available that makes use of various sources of information in order to check a purchaser's age. These checks include using the electoral register and/or credit reference agencies. There are also businesses that offer online access to electoral register information, which could be used to verify a purchaser's age.
FOLLOW UP OFFLINE CHECKS
In some circumstances, it may not be possible to verify a potential purchaser's age to conclude an online order. It is suggested, therefore, that further checks could be carried out, such as requiring the customer to provide a valid/acceptable proof of age which can then be appropriately checked.
COLLECT IN-STORE
For some retailers, who also have a high street presence, purchasers could view and reserve products online and then collect in-store, where age verification could be carried out by members of staff as with a normal face-to-face transaction.
Further information
As it is the responsibility of the retailer to ensure that products are only sold to purchasers who are old enough to buy them, if there is any doubt, the transaction should not proceed.
The above guidance is applicable to all products that are subject to age restricted sales. These include alcohol, spray paints, fireworks, solvents, video recordings and games, and cigarettes. See our leaflet 'Age restricted products' for further information.
For more general information about online sales, please see our leaflet 'Selling at a distance (via the internet, telephone, post etc)'.
Please note
This leaflet is not an authoritative interpretation of the law and is intended only for guidance. Any legislation referred to, while still current, may have been amended from the form in which it was originally enacted. Please contact us for further information.
Relevant legislation
Children and Young Persons Act 1933
Intoxicating Substances (Supply) Act 1985
Criminal Justice Act 1988
Children and Young Persons (Protection From Tobacco) Act 1991
National Lottery etc. Act 1993
National Lottery Regulations 1994
Offensive Weapons Act 1996
Cigarette Lighter Refill (Safety) Regulations 1999
Licensing Act 2003
Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003
Fireworks Regulations 2004
Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006
Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2010
Video Recordings Act 2010
Last reviewed/updated: December 2012
