As a retailer it is imperative to follow the rules and laws around age-restricted products and services. These laws restrict the sale of certain products and services to underage customers.
Below is a list of products and services with the corresponding age restrictions.
Adult fireworks and sparklers | 18 and over |
Aerosol paint | 16 and over |
Alcohol | 18 and over |
Betting, bingo, casino, racetracks | 18 and over |
Christmas crackers | 12 and over |
Crossbows | 18 and over |
Knives/axes/blades | 18 and over |
Knives (domestic Scotland only) | 16 and over |
Lighter refills containing butane | 18 and over |
Liqueur confectionery (Scotland only) | 16 and over |
Lottery tickets/instant win cards | 16 and over |
Nicotine inhaling/vapour products | 18 and over |
Party poppers | 16 and over |
Petrol | 16 and over |
Sunbeds | 18 and over |
Tobacco | 18 and over |
Video recordings U & PG | Unrestricted |
Video recordings classification 12 | 12 and over |
Video recordings classification 15 | 15 and over |
Video recordings classification 18/R18 | 18 and over |
Video games PEGI rating 3 & 7 | Unrestricted |
Video games PEGI rating 12 | 12 and over |
Video games PEGI rating 16 | 16 and over |
Video games PEGI rating 18 | 18 and over |
If selling age-restricted products or services to a person under the minimum legal age it may be an offence under the relevant law. The penalties can include fines or even imprisonment. In these cases, a retailer must prove they took 'all reasonable precautions/all reasonable steps' and exercised 'all due diligence' to avoid committing the offence.
This basically means that the retailer is responsible for ensuring staff members do not sell age-restricted products to individuals under the relevant minimum legal age. There are a number of ways that this can be monitored and managed.
- Age Verification Checks – If someone looks under age staff must verify their actual age with a passport, driving licence or identity card that bears the PASS hologram. PASS (the Proof of Age Standards Scheme) is the UKs national proof of age accreditation scheme.
- Challenge 21/25 – This is a scheme the retailer must participate in as it is a licensing condition to sell alcohol. The retailer must carry out age verification checks on anyone who looks younger than 21 or 25. (In Scotland it is a legal requirement to check anyone that looks under 25).
- Staff training – it is the retailer's responsibility to ensure that staff are trained sufficiently on underage sales. A training record with regular updates should be provided for staff so there are no training gaps.
- Till prompts – any age restricted product that is scanned should give a prompt on the till to confirm that the staff member serving the customer carries out the relevant age verification checks.
- Store layout – age-restricted products should be stocked where they can be monitored on a regular basis. Fireworks that are kept on the shop floor must by law be kept in a secure cabinet. There should be clear indication to show customers the relevant legal age to purchase age-restricted products.
Finally it is worth keeping a refusals record that shows date, time, incident and description of the potential buyer when age-restricted products have been refused. This will help prove the retailer actively monitors age-restricted items and has an effective system in place.
Related Service: Compliance Audit Services