In Northern Ireland, the following products and services may only be sold to customers above a certain minimum age:

• Aerosol paint may only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Animals may only be sold to customer over the age of 16.
• Alcohol may only be sold to customers over the age of 18. See selling alcohol.
• Christmas crackers may only be sold to customers over the age of 12.
• Crossbows can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Fireworks – most fireworks may only be sold to customers over 18. Certain categories of low-hazard indoor fireworks may be sold to customers over 16. See selling fireworks.
• Knives (including cutlery and kitchen knives) can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Lighter refills containing butane must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18.
• National Lottery tickets and scratch cards can only be sold to customers over 18 years of age. People over the age of 16 may sell or purchase tickets for society lotteries, private lotteries and small lotteries at exempt entertainment.
• Nicotine-inhaling products – it is illegal to sell nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products.
• Sunbeds – young people under 18 years old may not use, hire or buy sunbeds.
• Tobacco – it is illegal to sell or display tobacco products to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine inhaling products.
• Video and games – videos and video games are classed into categories with different age restrictions. See selling age-restricted video and games

It is against the law to display or sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18. This includes products such as cigarette papers.

It is also an offence to sell nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s.

You must be able to show that you took “all reasonable precautions” and that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage tobacco sales.  This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

If you sell tobacco products, you must register your business. Failure to register can result in a fine of up to £5,000.

Age verification for tobacco or nicotine inhaling products sales

All retailers who sell tobacco or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) must have an age verification system in place to show that they took 'all reasonable precautions’ and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales. For example, this could include staff training. The type of system you use will depend on the size of your business.

You must take all reasonable steps to make sure a customer is 18 or over.  If in doubt, you must ask for identification. If the young person has no identification or you are in doubt about its authenticity you must refuse to serve the young person.  Excuses like: “I thought he looked 18” or, “They told me they were 18” will not provide you with a defence.

The law forbids all tobacco displays and sales to people under the age of 18. It also prohibits the sale of nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s. If a young person says, “They’re for my mum” the sale must be refused, even if you know it is true. Otherwise, you will have committed an offence.

See prevent underage sales for examples of age verification systems.

Penalties

Anyone who displays tobacco products to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to two years imprisonment.

Anyone who sells tobacco products including cigarette papers to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

Anyone who sells nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

A retailer found to be in breach of relevant legislation three times in a five-year period could face further sanctions in the form of either a restricted sale order or a restricted premises order. Such an order can prohibit the sale of tobacco or cigarette papers by a named individual or business premises for up to three years. A retailer who breaches an order can be fined up to £20,000. These sanctions can also be applied to the sale of nicotine inhaling products.

An adult who buys, or attempts to buy, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills), on behalf of a minor (known as proxy purchasing) can also be fined up to £5,000.

In Northern Ireland, local councils are responsible for enforcing tobacco control laws. The Environmental Health department of your local council can provide further advice and guidance. Find your local council in Northern Ireland.

Warning notices

Any shop that sells tobacco related products must display a warning notice, stating: "It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18".

This notice must be displayed at the point of sale where it can be easily seen by customers and staff. Make sure other notices and advertisements do not cover any part of it or make it hard to see the message. Warning notices must be at least A3 in size with lettering not less than 36mm high

Anyone carrying on a business selling tobacco who does not display the notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Displaying tobacco products

It is illegal to display tobacco products in all relevant shops and businesses in Northern Ireland, except to people over 18 years of age, and only in limited circumstances. Age checks must be carried out before any tobacco product is shown to a customer.

As a retailer you will be permitted to temporarily display tobacco products in the following circumstances:

• following requests to purchase tobacco products by customers over 18 (known as “Requested Displays”)
• incidental displays while staff are actively checking stock or restocking
• incidental displays while cleaning, maintaining or refurbishing the storage unit
• during staff training
• following a request by an enforcement officer

Certain, limited, exemptions exist for specialist tobacconists.

It is illegal to sell tobacco products directly to the public through a vending machine.

It is illegal to sell age-restricted products to a person under the minimum age. You must be able to show that you took 'all reasonable precautions' and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales.

You can do this by setting up effective systems within your business. These systems should be regularly monitored and updated. This will help you spot and fix problems or weaknesses. You should keep up to date with any new technology to help prevent underage sales. This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

Age verification systems

It is not enough to simply ask a young person’s age or date of birth as they may just lie. Key best-practice features of an effective system include:

Age verification checks

Verify the age of potential buyers by asking to see ID. Look carefully at the ID to make sure the photo matches the customer and check the date of birth proves the person is of age. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Challenge 25

A scheme to carry out age verification checks on anyone who looks younger than 25. It can be difficult to tell the age of a young person. Checking the ID of anyone who appears under-25 can help you avoid mistakes.

Staff training

Make sure your staff receive adequate training on underage sales. Keep a training record and make sure the training is regularly updated.

Till prompts

You can use prompts that appear on the till when an age-restricted product is scanned to remind staff to carry out age verification checks.

Store layout, signage and CCTV

Keep your age-restricted products where staff can monitor them. For example, fireworks stored on the shop floor must by law be kept in a secure cabinet. Use signs to inform consumers of the minimum legal age to purchase. You must display notices for tobacco and fireworks.

Keep and maintain a refusals register

This means keeping a record (date, time, incident, description of potential buyer) where sales of age-restricted products have been refused. This helps show that you refuse sales to underage people and have an effective system in place.

Refusing sales

If a young person cannot prove their age with ID or if you suspect the ID is not genuine - you must refuse the sale.

Saying no can embarrass a customer, so you should be tactful. Always be polite, professional and calm. Tell the customer that a valid ID is required by the business’ policy and by law.

It is against the law to sell an age-restricted product to a minor who is buying on behalf of an adult. For example, you must not sell cigarettes or nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to someone under 18, even if you know they are buying them for their parent.

You should also refuse the sale if you suspect an adult is buying an age-restricted product on behalf of someone underage. For example, it is an offence for an adult to purchase, or attempt to purchase, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) on behalf of a child (known as proxy purchasing)

Accepted forms of ID

You should have a policy that only accepts recognised forms of ID. This could include:

• Drivers' licence
• Passport
• Electoral identity card
• ID with the PASS symbol, such as a 'citizencard'

Businesses who want to sell alcohol in Northern Ireland must have a licence to sell alcohol.

It is against the law to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

It is also illegal to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone who will then supply it to a person under the age of 18.

You must not allow young people under the age of 18 to drink alcohol on your licensed premises. This includes in any premises you own or run that adjoin or are near your licensed premises.

Preventing underage alcohol sales

You must be able to show that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage alcohol sales. You must also be able to prove you had no reason to suspect that a person buying alcohol was under 18 years old. Generally, this means that you should request suitable identification documentation (ID) when required.

Setting up an age verification system in your business should provide you with robust proof that you took the necessary steps to avoid committing an offence.

See prevent underage sales for information on acceptable forms of ID and how to set up an age verification system.

Warning notices

Licensed premises must display a notice stating that it is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18 years of age. The notice must also include accepted forms of ID for proving age.

The notice must be displayed at all times at each place in the premises where alcohol is sold and in a position where it is readily visible to any person seeking to purchase alcohol.

Penalties

Anyone who sells or delivers alcohol to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to 6 months imprisonment. This also applies to selling alcohol to someone who will supply alcohol to someone who is underage and allowing someone who is underage to drink alcohol on your licensed premises.

Anyone who does not display the required warning notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Video works, such as films, and video games are classified based on their content. They are rated based on their suitability for different age groups. The sale, hire, loan and exchange of all video works are regulated. Video works and games must be labelled with their correct classification.

Certain video works are exempt from classification, such as educational material.

You must exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure that you do not sell video works or games to anyone under the legal age. See prevent underage sales.

Video works classification

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) classifies video works according to the material they contain (criminal behaviour, sex, violence, bad language, drugs, etc). It can issue or refuse classification certificates.

There are a number of classifications:

• U – suitable for all
• PG – parental guidance
• 12A – cinema release suitable for 12 years and older
• 12 – video release suitable for 12 years and older
• 15 – suitable only for 15 years and older
• 18 – suitable only for adults
• R18 – adult works suitable only for licensed premises

Video works rated U and PG can be sold to customers of any age. The other ratings may only be sold to customers above the rating age.

Video games classification

The Video Standards Council (VSC) is responsible for classifying video games using the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system. Video games are classified as:

• 3 – suitable for all age groups
• 7 – some content may not be suitable for younger children
• 12 – suitable for 12 years and over
• 16 – suitable for 16 years and over
• 18 – suitable for 18 years and over

Games rated 3 and 7 may be sold to anyone. The other ratings may only be sold to those who meet the age requirements.

The PEGI system also includes icons that describe the content that led to the game’s rating, such as violence, bad language or drug references.

Selling age-restricted products online presents issues. Retailers must take steps to prevent sales to underage customers.

This guide applies to all products that have age restrictions on sales, such as:

• alcohol
• tobacco
• nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills)
• spray paints
• fireworks
• video recordings and games

See what products and services are age-restricted by law?

Duty of retailers

Retailers must not sell age-restricted products online to people who are under the minimum legal age. This means setting up systems to verify the age of potential purchasers to ensure they are above the minimum legal age to purchase a product. Legally, retailers must take ‘all reasonable precautions’ and ‘exercise all due diligence’ to avoid committing an offence.

You should regularly check and update your systems to find weaknesses and solve any problems. You should keep up to date with the latest technology.

The law does not define ‘all reasonable precautions’ or ‘due diligence’. However, it is best practice to take positive steps and precautions to comply with the law.

To take these steps and precautions, you must first analyse the risks and research the options available to overcome them.

Checks unlikely to satisfy 'due diligence'

The following steps are unlikely to be enough to comply with the law:

• 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 that they have read the terms and conditions and 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.
• Only accepting payment by credit card. Credit cards are not available to those under 18 but certain debit and prepaid cards are. Your payment systems are unlikely to be able to differentiate between the different types of cards, so it is essential that you have additional age verification in place.

Young people will seek to challenge conventions and test boundaries. Young people could potentially evade proof-of-age checks that are required on the high street when shopping online unless retailers make positive checks.

Age verification checks

Retailers should use robust age verification systems that are suitable for their specific business. Some examples include:

Age verification on delivery

Delivery drivers request valid proof of age to confirm that the purchaser is over the minimum age to buy the product. Third-party couriers may not offer this service. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Online age verification checks

Using software that uses various sources of information to verify both age and identity during the ordering process. 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

If you can’t verify a potential purchaser's age to conclude an online order, you should carry out further checks. For example, asking the customer to provide proof of age, which can then be checked.

Collect in-store

For some retailers that also have a high street presence, purchasers could view and reserve products online and then collect in-store, where staff can verify the customer’s age.

Many websites now require purchasers to set up accounts for future purchases, which means that age verification checks may only be required once.

Cross-border sales

There are specific rules relating to cross-border distance sales of tobacco and e-cigarettes, including the need for an age verification system. In a number of situations, you may be required to register.

In Northern Ireland, the following products and services may only be sold to customers above a certain minimum age:

• Aerosol paint may only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Animals may only be sold to customer over the age of 16.
• Alcohol may only be sold to customers over the age of 18. See selling alcohol.
• Christmas crackers may only be sold to customers over the age of 12.
• Crossbows can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Fireworks – most fireworks may only be sold to customers over 18. Certain categories of low-hazard indoor fireworks may be sold to customers over 16. See selling fireworks.
• Knives (including cutlery and kitchen knives) can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Lighter refills containing butane must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18.
• National Lottery tickets and scratch cards can only be sold to customers over 18 years of age. People over the age of 16 may sell or purchase tickets for society lotteries, private lotteries and small lotteries at exempt entertainment.
• Nicotine-inhaling products – it is illegal to sell nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products.
• Sunbeds – young people under 18 years old may not use, hire or buy sunbeds.
• Tobacco – it is illegal to sell or display tobacco products to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine inhaling products.
• Video and games – videos and video games are classed into categories with different age restrictions. See selling age-restricted video and games

It is against the law to display or sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18. This includes products such as cigarette papers.

It is also an offence to sell nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s.

You must be able to show that you took “all reasonable precautions” and that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage tobacco sales.  This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

If you sell tobacco products, you must register your business. Failure to register can result in a fine of up to £5,000.

Age verification for tobacco or nicotine inhaling products sales

All retailers who sell tobacco or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) must have an age verification system in place to show that they took 'all reasonable precautions’ and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales. For example, this could include staff training. The type of system you use will depend on the size of your business.

You must take all reasonable steps to make sure a customer is 18 or over.  If in doubt, you must ask for identification. If the young person has no identification or you are in doubt about its authenticity you must refuse to serve the young person.  Excuses like: “I thought he looked 18” or, “They told me they were 18” will not provide you with a defence.

The law forbids all tobacco displays and sales to people under the age of 18. It also prohibits the sale of nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s. If a young person says, “They’re for my mum” the sale must be refused, even if you know it is true. Otherwise, you will have committed an offence.

See prevent underage sales for examples of age verification systems.

Penalties

Anyone who displays tobacco products to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to two years imprisonment.

Anyone who sells tobacco products including cigarette papers to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

Anyone who sells nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

A retailer found to be in breach of relevant legislation three times in a five-year period could face further sanctions in the form of either a restricted sale order or a restricted premises order. Such an order can prohibit the sale of tobacco or cigarette papers by a named individual or business premises for up to three years. A retailer who breaches an order can be fined up to £20,000. These sanctions can also be applied to the sale of nicotine inhaling products.

An adult who buys, or attempts to buy, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills), on behalf of a minor (known as proxy purchasing) can also be fined up to £5,000.

In Northern Ireland, local councils are responsible for enforcing tobacco control laws. The Environmental Health department of your local council can provide further advice and guidance. Find your local council in Northern Ireland.

Warning notices

Any shop that sells tobacco related products must display a warning notice, stating: "It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18".

This notice must be displayed at the point of sale where it can be easily seen by customers and staff. Make sure other notices and advertisements do not cover any part of it or make it hard to see the message. Warning notices must be at least A3 in size with lettering not less than 36mm high

Anyone carrying on a business selling tobacco who does not display the notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Displaying tobacco products

It is illegal to display tobacco products in all relevant shops and businesses in Northern Ireland, except to people over 18 years of age, and only in limited circumstances. Age checks must be carried out before any tobacco product is shown to a customer.

As a retailer you will be permitted to temporarily display tobacco products in the following circumstances:

• following requests to purchase tobacco products by customers over 18 (known as “Requested Displays”)
• incidental displays while staff are actively checking stock or restocking
• incidental displays while cleaning, maintaining or refurbishing the storage unit
• during staff training
• following a request by an enforcement officer

Certain, limited, exemptions exist for specialist tobacconists.

It is illegal to sell tobacco products directly to the public through a vending machine.

It is illegal to sell age-restricted products to a person under the minimum age. You must be able to show that you took 'all reasonable precautions' and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales.

You can do this by setting up effective systems within your business. These systems should be regularly monitored and updated. This will help you spot and fix problems or weaknesses. You should keep up to date with any new technology to help prevent underage sales. This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

Age verification systems

It is not enough to simply ask a young person’s age or date of birth as they may just lie. Key best-practice features of an effective system include:

Age verification checks

Verify the age of potential buyers by asking to see ID. Look carefully at the ID to make sure the photo matches the customer and check the date of birth proves the person is of age. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Challenge 25

A scheme to carry out age verification checks on anyone who looks younger than 25. It can be difficult to tell the age of a young person. Checking the ID of anyone who appears under-25 can help you avoid mistakes.

Staff training

Make sure your staff receive adequate training on underage sales. Keep a training record and make sure the training is regularly updated.

Till prompts

You can use prompts that appear on the till when an age-restricted product is scanned to remind staff to carry out age verification checks.

Store layout, signage and CCTV

Keep your age-restricted products where staff can monitor them. For example, fireworks stored on the shop floor must by law be kept in a secure cabinet. Use signs to inform consumers of the minimum legal age to purchase. You must display notices for tobacco and fireworks.

Keep and maintain a refusals register

This means keeping a record (date, time, incident, description of potential buyer) where sales of age-restricted products have been refused. This helps show that you refuse sales to underage people and have an effective system in place.

Refusing sales

If a young person cannot prove their age with ID or if you suspect the ID is not genuine - you must refuse the sale.

Saying no can embarrass a customer, so you should be tactful. Always be polite, professional and calm. Tell the customer that a valid ID is required by the business’ policy and by law.

It is against the law to sell an age-restricted product to a minor who is buying on behalf of an adult. For example, you must not sell cigarettes or nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to someone under 18, even if you know they are buying them for their parent.

You should also refuse the sale if you suspect an adult is buying an age-restricted product on behalf of someone underage. For example, it is an offence for an adult to purchase, or attempt to purchase, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) on behalf of a child (known as proxy purchasing)

Accepted forms of ID

You should have a policy that only accepts recognised forms of ID. This could include:

• Drivers' licence
• Passport
• Electoral identity card
• ID with the PASS symbol, such as a 'citizencard'

Businesses who want to sell alcohol in Northern Ireland must have a licence to sell alcohol.

It is against the law to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

It is also illegal to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone who will then supply it to a person under the age of 18.

You must not allow young people under the age of 18 to drink alcohol on your licensed premises. This includes in any premises you own or run that adjoin or are near your licensed premises.

Preventing underage alcohol sales

You must be able to show that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage alcohol sales. You must also be able to prove you had no reason to suspect that a person buying alcohol was under 18 years old. Generally, this means that you should request suitable identification documentation (ID) when required.

Setting up an age verification system in your business should provide you with robust proof that you took the necessary steps to avoid committing an offence.

See prevent underage sales for information on acceptable forms of ID and how to set up an age verification system.

Warning notices

Licensed premises must display a notice stating that it is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18 years of age. The notice must also include accepted forms of ID for proving age.

The notice must be displayed at all times at each place in the premises where alcohol is sold and in a position where it is readily visible to any person seeking to purchase alcohol.

Penalties

Anyone who sells or delivers alcohol to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to 6 months imprisonment. This also applies to selling alcohol to someone who will supply alcohol to someone who is underage and allowing someone who is underage to drink alcohol on your licensed premises.

Anyone who does not display the required warning notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Video works, such as films, and video games are classified based on their content. They are rated based on their suitability for different age groups. The sale, hire, loan and exchange of all video works are regulated. Video works and games must be labelled with their correct classification.

Certain video works are exempt from classification, such as educational material.

You must exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure that you do not sell video works or games to anyone under the legal age. See prevent underage sales.

Video works classification

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) classifies video works according to the material they contain (criminal behaviour, sex, violence, bad language, drugs, etc). It can issue or refuse classification certificates.

There are a number of classifications:

• U – suitable for all
• PG – parental guidance
• 12A – cinema release suitable for 12 years and older
• 12 – video release suitable for 12 years and older
• 15 – suitable only for 15 years and older
• 18 – suitable only for adults
• R18 – adult works suitable only for licensed premises

Video works rated U and PG can be sold to customers of any age. The other ratings may only be sold to customers above the rating age.

Video games classification

The Video Standards Council (VSC) is responsible for classifying video games using the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system. Video games are classified as:

• 3 – suitable for all age groups
• 7 – some content may not be suitable for younger children
• 12 – suitable for 12 years and over
• 16 – suitable for 16 years and over
• 18 – suitable for 18 years and over

Games rated 3 and 7 may be sold to anyone. The other ratings may only be sold to those who meet the age requirements.

The PEGI system also includes icons that describe the content that led to the game’s rating, such as violence, bad language or drug references.

Selling age-restricted products online presents issues. Retailers must take steps to prevent sales to underage customers.

This guide applies to all products that have age restrictions on sales, such as:

• alcohol
• tobacco
• nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills)
• spray paints
• fireworks
• video recordings and games

See what products and services are age-restricted by law?

Duty of retailers

Retailers must not sell age-restricted products online to people who are under the minimum legal age. This means setting up systems to verify the age of potential purchasers to ensure they are above the minimum legal age to purchase a product. Legally, retailers must take ‘all reasonable precautions’ and ‘exercise all due diligence’ to avoid committing an offence.

You should regularly check and update your systems to find weaknesses and solve any problems. You should keep up to date with the latest technology.

The law does not define ‘all reasonable precautions’ or ‘due diligence’. However, it is best practice to take positive steps and precautions to comply with the law.

To take these steps and precautions, you must first analyse the risks and research the options available to overcome them.

Checks unlikely to satisfy 'due diligence'

The following steps are unlikely to be enough to comply with the law:

• 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 that they have read the terms and conditions and 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.
• Only accepting payment by credit card. Credit cards are not available to those under 18 but certain debit and prepaid cards are. Your payment systems are unlikely to be able to differentiate between the different types of cards, so it is essential that you have additional age verification in place.

Young people will seek to challenge conventions and test boundaries. Young people could potentially evade proof-of-age checks that are required on the high street when shopping online unless retailers make positive checks.

Age verification checks

Retailers should use robust age verification systems that are suitable for their specific business. Some examples include:

Age verification on delivery

Delivery drivers request valid proof of age to confirm that the purchaser is over the minimum age to buy the product. Third-party couriers may not offer this service. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Online age verification checks

Using software that uses various sources of information to verify both age and identity during the ordering process. 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

If you can’t verify a potential purchaser's age to conclude an online order, you should carry out further checks. For example, asking the customer to provide proof of age, which can then be checked.

Collect in-store

For some retailers that also have a high street presence, purchasers could view and reserve products online and then collect in-store, where staff can verify the customer’s age.

Many websites now require purchasers to set up accounts for future purchases, which means that age verification checks may only be required once.

Cross-border sales

There are specific rules relating to cross-border distance sales of tobacco and e-cigarettes, including the need for an age verification system. In a number of situations, you may be required to register.

In Northern Ireland, the following products and services may only be sold to customers above a certain minimum age:

• Aerosol paint may only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Animals may only be sold to customer over the age of 16.
• Alcohol may only be sold to customers over the age of 18. See selling alcohol.
• Christmas crackers may only be sold to customers over the age of 12.
• Crossbows can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Fireworks – most fireworks may only be sold to customers over 18. Certain categories of low-hazard indoor fireworks may be sold to customers over 16. See selling fireworks.
• Knives (including cutlery and kitchen knives) can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Lighter refills containing butane must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18.
• National Lottery tickets and scratch cards can only be sold to customers over 18 years of age. People over the age of 16 may sell or purchase tickets for society lotteries, private lotteries and small lotteries at exempt entertainment.
• Nicotine-inhaling products – it is illegal to sell nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products.
• Sunbeds – young people under 18 years old may not use, hire or buy sunbeds.
• Tobacco – it is illegal to sell or display tobacco products to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine inhaling products.
• Video and games – videos and video games are classed into categories with different age restrictions. See selling age-restricted video and games

It is against the law to display or sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18. This includes products such as cigarette papers.

It is also an offence to sell nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s.

You must be able to show that you took “all reasonable precautions” and that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage tobacco sales.  This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

If you sell tobacco products, you must register your business. Failure to register can result in a fine of up to £5,000.

Age verification for tobacco or nicotine inhaling products sales

All retailers who sell tobacco or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) must have an age verification system in place to show that they took 'all reasonable precautions’ and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales. For example, this could include staff training. The type of system you use will depend on the size of your business.

You must take all reasonable steps to make sure a customer is 18 or over.  If in doubt, you must ask for identification. If the young person has no identification or you are in doubt about its authenticity you must refuse to serve the young person.  Excuses like: “I thought he looked 18” or, “They told me they were 18” will not provide you with a defence.

The law forbids all tobacco displays and sales to people under the age of 18. It also prohibits the sale of nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s. If a young person says, “They’re for my mum” the sale must be refused, even if you know it is true. Otherwise, you will have committed an offence.

See prevent underage sales for examples of age verification systems.

Penalties

Anyone who displays tobacco products to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to two years imprisonment.

Anyone who sells tobacco products including cigarette papers to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

Anyone who sells nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

A retailer found to be in breach of relevant legislation three times in a five-year period could face further sanctions in the form of either a restricted sale order or a restricted premises order. Such an order can prohibit the sale of tobacco or cigarette papers by a named individual or business premises for up to three years. A retailer who breaches an order can be fined up to £20,000. These sanctions can also be applied to the sale of nicotine inhaling products.

An adult who buys, or attempts to buy, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills), on behalf of a minor (known as proxy purchasing) can also be fined up to £5,000.

In Northern Ireland, local councils are responsible for enforcing tobacco control laws. The Environmental Health department of your local council can provide further advice and guidance. Find your local council in Northern Ireland.

Warning notices

Any shop that sells tobacco related products must display a warning notice, stating: "It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18".

This notice must be displayed at the point of sale where it can be easily seen by customers and staff. Make sure other notices and advertisements do not cover any part of it or make it hard to see the message. Warning notices must be at least A3 in size with lettering not less than 36mm high

Anyone carrying on a business selling tobacco who does not display the notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Displaying tobacco products

It is illegal to display tobacco products in all relevant shops and businesses in Northern Ireland, except to people over 18 years of age, and only in limited circumstances. Age checks must be carried out before any tobacco product is shown to a customer.

As a retailer you will be permitted to temporarily display tobacco products in the following circumstances:

• following requests to purchase tobacco products by customers over 18 (known as “Requested Displays”)
• incidental displays while staff are actively checking stock or restocking
• incidental displays while cleaning, maintaining or refurbishing the storage unit
• during staff training
• following a request by an enforcement officer

Certain, limited, exemptions exist for specialist tobacconists.

It is illegal to sell tobacco products directly to the public through a vending machine.

It is illegal to sell age-restricted products to a person under the minimum age. You must be able to show that you took 'all reasonable precautions' and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales.

You can do this by setting up effective systems within your business. These systems should be regularly monitored and updated. This will help you spot and fix problems or weaknesses. You should keep up to date with any new technology to help prevent underage sales. This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

Age verification systems

It is not enough to simply ask a young person’s age or date of birth as they may just lie. Key best-practice features of an effective system include:

Age verification checks

Verify the age of potential buyers by asking to see ID. Look carefully at the ID to make sure the photo matches the customer and check the date of birth proves the person is of age. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Challenge 25

A scheme to carry out age verification checks on anyone who looks younger than 25. It can be difficult to tell the age of a young person. Checking the ID of anyone who appears under-25 can help you avoid mistakes.

Staff training

Make sure your staff receive adequate training on underage sales. Keep a training record and make sure the training is regularly updated.

Till prompts

You can use prompts that appear on the till when an age-restricted product is scanned to remind staff to carry out age verification checks.

Store layout, signage and CCTV

Keep your age-restricted products where staff can monitor them. For example, fireworks stored on the shop floor must by law be kept in a secure cabinet. Use signs to inform consumers of the minimum legal age to purchase. You must display notices for tobacco and fireworks.

Keep and maintain a refusals register

This means keeping a record (date, time, incident, description of potential buyer) where sales of age-restricted products have been refused. This helps show that you refuse sales to underage people and have an effective system in place.

Refusing sales

If a young person cannot prove their age with ID or if you suspect the ID is not genuine - you must refuse the sale.

Saying no can embarrass a customer, so you should be tactful. Always be polite, professional and calm. Tell the customer that a valid ID is required by the business’ policy and by law.

It is against the law to sell an age-restricted product to a minor who is buying on behalf of an adult. For example, you must not sell cigarettes or nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to someone under 18, even if you know they are buying them for their parent.

You should also refuse the sale if you suspect an adult is buying an age-restricted product on behalf of someone underage. For example, it is an offence for an adult to purchase, or attempt to purchase, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) on behalf of a child (known as proxy purchasing)

Accepted forms of ID

You should have a policy that only accepts recognised forms of ID. This could include:

• Drivers' licence
• Passport
• Electoral identity card
• ID with the PASS symbol, such as a 'citizencard'

Businesses who want to sell alcohol in Northern Ireland must have a licence to sell alcohol.

It is against the law to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

It is also illegal to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone who will then supply it to a person under the age of 18.

You must not allow young people under the age of 18 to drink alcohol on your licensed premises. This includes in any premises you own or run that adjoin or are near your licensed premises.

Preventing underage alcohol sales

You must be able to show that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage alcohol sales. You must also be able to prove you had no reason to suspect that a person buying alcohol was under 18 years old. Generally, this means that you should request suitable identification documentation (ID) when required.

Setting up an age verification system in your business should provide you with robust proof that you took the necessary steps to avoid committing an offence.

See prevent underage sales for information on acceptable forms of ID and how to set up an age verification system.

Warning notices

Licensed premises must display a notice stating that it is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18 years of age. The notice must also include accepted forms of ID for proving age.

The notice must be displayed at all times at each place in the premises where alcohol is sold and in a position where it is readily visible to any person seeking to purchase alcohol.

Penalties

Anyone who sells or delivers alcohol to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to 6 months imprisonment. This also applies to selling alcohol to someone who will supply alcohol to someone who is underage and allowing someone who is underage to drink alcohol on your licensed premises.

Anyone who does not display the required warning notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Video works, such as films, and video games are classified based on their content. They are rated based on their suitability for different age groups. The sale, hire, loan and exchange of all video works are regulated. Video works and games must be labelled with their correct classification.

Certain video works are exempt from classification, such as educational material.

You must exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure that you do not sell video works or games to anyone under the legal age. See prevent underage sales.

Video works classification

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) classifies video works according to the material they contain (criminal behaviour, sex, violence, bad language, drugs, etc). It can issue or refuse classification certificates.

There are a number of classifications:

• U – suitable for all
• PG – parental guidance
• 12A – cinema release suitable for 12 years and older
• 12 – video release suitable for 12 years and older
• 15 – suitable only for 15 years and older
• 18 – suitable only for adults
• R18 – adult works suitable only for licensed premises

Video works rated U and PG can be sold to customers of any age. The other ratings may only be sold to customers above the rating age.

Video games classification

The Video Standards Council (VSC) is responsible for classifying video games using the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system. Video games are classified as:

• 3 – suitable for all age groups
• 7 – some content may not be suitable for younger children
• 12 – suitable for 12 years and over
• 16 – suitable for 16 years and over
• 18 – suitable for 18 years and over

Games rated 3 and 7 may be sold to anyone. The other ratings may only be sold to those who meet the age requirements.

The PEGI system also includes icons that describe the content that led to the game’s rating, such as violence, bad language or drug references.

Selling age-restricted products online presents issues. Retailers must take steps to prevent sales to underage customers.

This guide applies to all products that have age restrictions on sales, such as:

• alcohol
• tobacco
• nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills)
• spray paints
• fireworks
• video recordings and games

See what products and services are age-restricted by law?

Duty of retailers

Retailers must not sell age-restricted products online to people who are under the minimum legal age. This means setting up systems to verify the age of potential purchasers to ensure they are above the minimum legal age to purchase a product. Legally, retailers must take ‘all reasonable precautions’ and ‘exercise all due diligence’ to avoid committing an offence.

You should regularly check and update your systems to find weaknesses and solve any problems. You should keep up to date with the latest technology.

The law does not define ‘all reasonable precautions’ or ‘due diligence’. However, it is best practice to take positive steps and precautions to comply with the law.

To take these steps and precautions, you must first analyse the risks and research the options available to overcome them.

Checks unlikely to satisfy 'due diligence'

The following steps are unlikely to be enough to comply with the law:

• 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 that they have read the terms and conditions and 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.
• Only accepting payment by credit card. Credit cards are not available to those under 18 but certain debit and prepaid cards are. Your payment systems are unlikely to be able to differentiate between the different types of cards, so it is essential that you have additional age verification in place.

Young people will seek to challenge conventions and test boundaries. Young people could potentially evade proof-of-age checks that are required on the high street when shopping online unless retailers make positive checks.

Age verification checks

Retailers should use robust age verification systems that are suitable for their specific business. Some examples include:

Age verification on delivery

Delivery drivers request valid proof of age to confirm that the purchaser is over the minimum age to buy the product. Third-party couriers may not offer this service. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Online age verification checks

Using software that uses various sources of information to verify both age and identity during the ordering process. 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

If you can’t verify a potential purchaser's age to conclude an online order, you should carry out further checks. For example, asking the customer to provide proof of age, which can then be checked.

Collect in-store

For some retailers that also have a high street presence, purchasers could view and reserve products online and then collect in-store, where staff can verify the customer’s age.

Many websites now require purchasers to set up accounts for future purchases, which means that age verification checks may only be required once.

Cross-border sales

There are specific rules relating to cross-border distance sales of tobacco and e-cigarettes, including the need for an age verification system. In a number of situations, you may be required to register.

In Northern Ireland, the following products and services may only be sold to customers above a certain minimum age:

• Aerosol paint may only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Animals may only be sold to customer over the age of 16.
• Alcohol may only be sold to customers over the age of 18. See selling alcohol.
• Christmas crackers may only be sold to customers over the age of 12.
• Crossbows can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Fireworks – most fireworks may only be sold to customers over 18. Certain categories of low-hazard indoor fireworks may be sold to customers over 16. See selling fireworks.
• Knives (including cutlery and kitchen knives) can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Lighter refills containing butane must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18.
• National Lottery tickets and scratch cards can only be sold to customers over 18 years of age. People over the age of 16 may sell or purchase tickets for society lotteries, private lotteries and small lotteries at exempt entertainment.
• Nicotine-inhaling products – it is illegal to sell nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products.
• Sunbeds – young people under 18 years old may not use, hire or buy sunbeds.
• Tobacco – it is illegal to sell or display tobacco products to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine inhaling products.
• Video and games – videos and video games are classed into categories with different age restrictions. See selling age-restricted video and games

It is against the law to display or sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18. This includes products such as cigarette papers.

It is also an offence to sell nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s.

You must be able to show that you took “all reasonable precautions” and that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage tobacco sales.  This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

If you sell tobacco products, you must register your business. Failure to register can result in a fine of up to £5,000.

Age verification for tobacco or nicotine inhaling products sales

All retailers who sell tobacco or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) must have an age verification system in place to show that they took 'all reasonable precautions’ and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales. For example, this could include staff training. The type of system you use will depend on the size of your business.

You must take all reasonable steps to make sure a customer is 18 or over.  If in doubt, you must ask for identification. If the young person has no identification or you are in doubt about its authenticity you must refuse to serve the young person.  Excuses like: “I thought he looked 18” or, “They told me they were 18” will not provide you with a defence.

The law forbids all tobacco displays and sales to people under the age of 18. It also prohibits the sale of nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s. If a young person says, “They’re for my mum” the sale must be refused, even if you know it is true. Otherwise, you will have committed an offence.

See prevent underage sales for examples of age verification systems.

Penalties

Anyone who displays tobacco products to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to two years imprisonment.

Anyone who sells tobacco products including cigarette papers to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

Anyone who sells nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

A retailer found to be in breach of relevant legislation three times in a five-year period could face further sanctions in the form of either a restricted sale order or a restricted premises order. Such an order can prohibit the sale of tobacco or cigarette papers by a named individual or business premises for up to three years. A retailer who breaches an order can be fined up to £20,000. These sanctions can also be applied to the sale of nicotine inhaling products.

An adult who buys, or attempts to buy, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills), on behalf of a minor (known as proxy purchasing) can also be fined up to £5,000.

In Northern Ireland, local councils are responsible for enforcing tobacco control laws. The Environmental Health department of your local council can provide further advice and guidance. Find your local council in Northern Ireland.

Warning notices

Any shop that sells tobacco related products must display a warning notice, stating: "It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18".

This notice must be displayed at the point of sale where it can be easily seen by customers and staff. Make sure other notices and advertisements do not cover any part of it or make it hard to see the message. Warning notices must be at least A3 in size with lettering not less than 36mm high

Anyone carrying on a business selling tobacco who does not display the notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Displaying tobacco products

It is illegal to display tobacco products in all relevant shops and businesses in Northern Ireland, except to people over 18 years of age, and only in limited circumstances. Age checks must be carried out before any tobacco product is shown to a customer.

As a retailer you will be permitted to temporarily display tobacco products in the following circumstances:

• following requests to purchase tobacco products by customers over 18 (known as “Requested Displays”)
• incidental displays while staff are actively checking stock or restocking
• incidental displays while cleaning, maintaining or refurbishing the storage unit
• during staff training
• following a request by an enforcement officer

Certain, limited, exemptions exist for specialist tobacconists.

It is illegal to sell tobacco products directly to the public through a vending machine.

It is illegal to sell age-restricted products to a person under the minimum age. You must be able to show that you took 'all reasonable precautions' and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales.

You can do this by setting up effective systems within your business. These systems should be regularly monitored and updated. This will help you spot and fix problems or weaknesses. You should keep up to date with any new technology to help prevent underage sales. This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

Age verification systems

It is not enough to simply ask a young person’s age or date of birth as they may just lie. Key best-practice features of an effective system include:

Age verification checks

Verify the age of potential buyers by asking to see ID. Look carefully at the ID to make sure the photo matches the customer and check the date of birth proves the person is of age. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Challenge 25

A scheme to carry out age verification checks on anyone who looks younger than 25. It can be difficult to tell the age of a young person. Checking the ID of anyone who appears under-25 can help you avoid mistakes.

Staff training

Make sure your staff receive adequate training on underage sales. Keep a training record and make sure the training is regularly updated.

Till prompts

You can use prompts that appear on the till when an age-restricted product is scanned to remind staff to carry out age verification checks.

Store layout, signage and CCTV

Keep your age-restricted products where staff can monitor them. For example, fireworks stored on the shop floor must by law be kept in a secure cabinet. Use signs to inform consumers of the minimum legal age to purchase. You must display notices for tobacco and fireworks.

Keep and maintain a refusals register

This means keeping a record (date, time, incident, description of potential buyer) where sales of age-restricted products have been refused. This helps show that you refuse sales to underage people and have an effective system in place.

Refusing sales

If a young person cannot prove their age with ID or if you suspect the ID is not genuine - you must refuse the sale.

Saying no can embarrass a customer, so you should be tactful. Always be polite, professional and calm. Tell the customer that a valid ID is required by the business’ policy and by law.

It is against the law to sell an age-restricted product to a minor who is buying on behalf of an adult. For example, you must not sell cigarettes or nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to someone under 18, even if you know they are buying them for their parent.

You should also refuse the sale if you suspect an adult is buying an age-restricted product on behalf of someone underage. For example, it is an offence for an adult to purchase, or attempt to purchase, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) on behalf of a child (known as proxy purchasing)

Accepted forms of ID

You should have a policy that only accepts recognised forms of ID. This could include:

• Drivers' licence
• Passport
• Electoral identity card
• ID with the PASS symbol, such as a 'citizencard'

Businesses who want to sell alcohol in Northern Ireland must have a licence to sell alcohol.

It is against the law to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

It is also illegal to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone who will then supply it to a person under the age of 18.

You must not allow young people under the age of 18 to drink alcohol on your licensed premises. This includes in any premises you own or run that adjoin or are near your licensed premises.

Preventing underage alcohol sales

You must be able to show that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage alcohol sales. You must also be able to prove you had no reason to suspect that a person buying alcohol was under 18 years old. Generally, this means that you should request suitable identification documentation (ID) when required.

Setting up an age verification system in your business should provide you with robust proof that you took the necessary steps to avoid committing an offence.

See prevent underage sales for information on acceptable forms of ID and how to set up an age verification system.

Warning notices

Licensed premises must display a notice stating that it is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18 years of age. The notice must also include accepted forms of ID for proving age.

The notice must be displayed at all times at each place in the premises where alcohol is sold and in a position where it is readily visible to any person seeking to purchase alcohol.

Penalties

Anyone who sells or delivers alcohol to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to 6 months imprisonment. This also applies to selling alcohol to someone who will supply alcohol to someone who is underage and allowing someone who is underage to drink alcohol on your licensed premises.

Anyone who does not display the required warning notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Video works, such as films, and video games are classified based on their content. They are rated based on their suitability for different age groups. The sale, hire, loan and exchange of all video works are regulated. Video works and games must be labelled with their correct classification.

Certain video works are exempt from classification, such as educational material.

You must exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure that you do not sell video works or games to anyone under the legal age. See prevent underage sales.

Video works classification

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) classifies video works according to the material they contain (criminal behaviour, sex, violence, bad language, drugs, etc). It can issue or refuse classification certificates.

There are a number of classifications:

• U – suitable for all
• PG – parental guidance
• 12A – cinema release suitable for 12 years and older
• 12 – video release suitable for 12 years and older
• 15 – suitable only for 15 years and older
• 18 – suitable only for adults
• R18 – adult works suitable only for licensed premises

Video works rated U and PG can be sold to customers of any age. The other ratings may only be sold to customers above the rating age.

Video games classification

The Video Standards Council (VSC) is responsible for classifying video games using the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system. Video games are classified as:

• 3 – suitable for all age groups
• 7 – some content may not be suitable for younger children
• 12 – suitable for 12 years and over
• 16 – suitable for 16 years and over
• 18 – suitable for 18 years and over

Games rated 3 and 7 may be sold to anyone. The other ratings may only be sold to those who meet the age requirements.

The PEGI system also includes icons that describe the content that led to the game’s rating, such as violence, bad language or drug references.

Selling age-restricted products online presents issues. Retailers must take steps to prevent sales to underage customers.

This guide applies to all products that have age restrictions on sales, such as:

• alcohol
• tobacco
• nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills)
• spray paints
• fireworks
• video recordings and games

See what products and services are age-restricted by law?

Duty of retailers

Retailers must not sell age-restricted products online to people who are under the minimum legal age. This means setting up systems to verify the age of potential purchasers to ensure they are above the minimum legal age to purchase a product. Legally, retailers must take ‘all reasonable precautions’ and ‘exercise all due diligence’ to avoid committing an offence.

You should regularly check and update your systems to find weaknesses and solve any problems. You should keep up to date with the latest technology.

The law does not define ‘all reasonable precautions’ or ‘due diligence’. However, it is best practice to take positive steps and precautions to comply with the law.

To take these steps and precautions, you must first analyse the risks and research the options available to overcome them.

Checks unlikely to satisfy 'due diligence'

The following steps are unlikely to be enough to comply with the law:

• 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 that they have read the terms and conditions and 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.
• Only accepting payment by credit card. Credit cards are not available to those under 18 but certain debit and prepaid cards are. Your payment systems are unlikely to be able to differentiate between the different types of cards, so it is essential that you have additional age verification in place.

Young people will seek to challenge conventions and test boundaries. Young people could potentially evade proof-of-age checks that are required on the high street when shopping online unless retailers make positive checks.

Age verification checks

Retailers should use robust age verification systems that are suitable for their specific business. Some examples include:

Age verification on delivery

Delivery drivers request valid proof of age to confirm that the purchaser is over the minimum age to buy the product. Third-party couriers may not offer this service. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Online age verification checks

Using software that uses various sources of information to verify both age and identity during the ordering process. 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

If you can’t verify a potential purchaser's age to conclude an online order, you should carry out further checks. For example, asking the customer to provide proof of age, which can then be checked.

Collect in-store

For some retailers that also have a high street presence, purchasers could view and reserve products online and then collect in-store, where staff can verify the customer’s age.

Many websites now require purchasers to set up accounts for future purchases, which means that age verification checks may only be required once.

Cross-border sales

There are specific rules relating to cross-border distance sales of tobacco and e-cigarettes, including the need for an age verification system. In a number of situations, you may be required to register.

In Northern Ireland, the following products and services may only be sold to customers above a certain minimum age:

• Aerosol paint may only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Animals may only be sold to customer over the age of 16.
• Alcohol may only be sold to customers over the age of 18. See selling alcohol.
• Christmas crackers may only be sold to customers over the age of 12.
• Crossbows can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Fireworks – most fireworks may only be sold to customers over 18. Certain categories of low-hazard indoor fireworks may be sold to customers over 16. See selling fireworks.
• Knives (including cutlery and kitchen knives) can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Lighter refills containing butane must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18.
• National Lottery tickets and scratch cards can only be sold to customers over 18 years of age. People over the age of 16 may sell or purchase tickets for society lotteries, private lotteries and small lotteries at exempt entertainment.
• Nicotine-inhaling products – it is illegal to sell nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products.
• Sunbeds – young people under 18 years old may not use, hire or buy sunbeds.
• Tobacco – it is illegal to sell or display tobacco products to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine inhaling products.
• Video and games – videos and video games are classed into categories with different age restrictions. See selling age-restricted video and games

It is against the law to display or sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18. This includes products such as cigarette papers.

It is also an offence to sell nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s.

You must be able to show that you took “all reasonable precautions” and that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage tobacco sales.  This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

If you sell tobacco products, you must register your business. Failure to register can result in a fine of up to £5,000.

Age verification for tobacco or nicotine inhaling products sales

All retailers who sell tobacco or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) must have an age verification system in place to show that they took 'all reasonable precautions’ and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales. For example, this could include staff training. The type of system you use will depend on the size of your business.

You must take all reasonable steps to make sure a customer is 18 or over.  If in doubt, you must ask for identification. If the young person has no identification or you are in doubt about its authenticity you must refuse to serve the young person.  Excuses like: “I thought he looked 18” or, “They told me they were 18” will not provide you with a defence.

The law forbids all tobacco displays and sales to people under the age of 18. It also prohibits the sale of nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s. If a young person says, “They’re for my mum” the sale must be refused, even if you know it is true. Otherwise, you will have committed an offence.

See prevent underage sales for examples of age verification systems.

Penalties

Anyone who displays tobacco products to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to two years imprisonment.

Anyone who sells tobacco products including cigarette papers to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

Anyone who sells nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

A retailer found to be in breach of relevant legislation three times in a five-year period could face further sanctions in the form of either a restricted sale order or a restricted premises order. Such an order can prohibit the sale of tobacco or cigarette papers by a named individual or business premises for up to three years. A retailer who breaches an order can be fined up to £20,000. These sanctions can also be applied to the sale of nicotine inhaling products.

An adult who buys, or attempts to buy, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills), on behalf of a minor (known as proxy purchasing) can also be fined up to £5,000.

In Northern Ireland, local councils are responsible for enforcing tobacco control laws. The Environmental Health department of your local council can provide further advice and guidance. Find your local council in Northern Ireland.

Warning notices

Any shop that sells tobacco related products must display a warning notice, stating: "It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18".

This notice must be displayed at the point of sale where it can be easily seen by customers and staff. Make sure other notices and advertisements do not cover any part of it or make it hard to see the message. Warning notices must be at least A3 in size with lettering not less than 36mm high

Anyone carrying on a business selling tobacco who does not display the notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Displaying tobacco products

It is illegal to display tobacco products in all relevant shops and businesses in Northern Ireland, except to people over 18 years of age, and only in limited circumstances. Age checks must be carried out before any tobacco product is shown to a customer.

As a retailer you will be permitted to temporarily display tobacco products in the following circumstances:

• following requests to purchase tobacco products by customers over 18 (known as “Requested Displays”)
• incidental displays while staff are actively checking stock or restocking
• incidental displays while cleaning, maintaining or refurbishing the storage unit
• during staff training
• following a request by an enforcement officer

Certain, limited, exemptions exist for specialist tobacconists.

It is illegal to sell tobacco products directly to the public through a vending machine.

It is illegal to sell age-restricted products to a person under the minimum age. You must be able to show that you took 'all reasonable precautions' and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales.

You can do this by setting up effective systems within your business. These systems should be regularly monitored and updated. This will help you spot and fix problems or weaknesses. You should keep up to date with any new technology to help prevent underage sales. This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

Age verification systems

It is not enough to simply ask a young person’s age or date of birth as they may just lie. Key best-practice features of an effective system include:

Age verification checks

Verify the age of potential buyers by asking to see ID. Look carefully at the ID to make sure the photo matches the customer and check the date of birth proves the person is of age. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Challenge 25

A scheme to carry out age verification checks on anyone who looks younger than 25. It can be difficult to tell the age of a young person. Checking the ID of anyone who appears under-25 can help you avoid mistakes.

Staff training

Make sure your staff receive adequate training on underage sales. Keep a training record and make sure the training is regularly updated.

Till prompts

You can use prompts that appear on the till when an age-restricted product is scanned to remind staff to carry out age verification checks.

Store layout, signage and CCTV

Keep your age-restricted products where staff can monitor them. For example, fireworks stored on the shop floor must by law be kept in a secure cabinet. Use signs to inform consumers of the minimum legal age to purchase. You must display notices for tobacco and fireworks.

Keep and maintain a refusals register

This means keeping a record (date, time, incident, description of potential buyer) where sales of age-restricted products have been refused. This helps show that you refuse sales to underage people and have an effective system in place.

Refusing sales

If a young person cannot prove their age with ID or if you suspect the ID is not genuine - you must refuse the sale.

Saying no can embarrass a customer, so you should be tactful. Always be polite, professional and calm. Tell the customer that a valid ID is required by the business’ policy and by law.

It is against the law to sell an age-restricted product to a minor who is buying on behalf of an adult. For example, you must not sell cigarettes or nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to someone under 18, even if you know they are buying them for their parent.

You should also refuse the sale if you suspect an adult is buying an age-restricted product on behalf of someone underage. For example, it is an offence for an adult to purchase, or attempt to purchase, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) on behalf of a child (known as proxy purchasing)

Accepted forms of ID

You should have a policy that only accepts recognised forms of ID. This could include:

• Drivers' licence
• Passport
• Electoral identity card
• ID with the PASS symbol, such as a 'citizencard'

Businesses who want to sell alcohol in Northern Ireland must have a licence to sell alcohol.

It is against the law to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

It is also illegal to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone who will then supply it to a person under the age of 18.

You must not allow young people under the age of 18 to drink alcohol on your licensed premises. This includes in any premises you own or run that adjoin or are near your licensed premises.

Preventing underage alcohol sales

You must be able to show that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage alcohol sales. You must also be able to prove you had no reason to suspect that a person buying alcohol was under 18 years old. Generally, this means that you should request suitable identification documentation (ID) when required.

Setting up an age verification system in your business should provide you with robust proof that you took the necessary steps to avoid committing an offence.

See prevent underage sales for information on acceptable forms of ID and how to set up an age verification system.

Warning notices

Licensed premises must display a notice stating that it is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18 years of age. The notice must also include accepted forms of ID for proving age.

The notice must be displayed at all times at each place in the premises where alcohol is sold and in a position where it is readily visible to any person seeking to purchase alcohol.

Penalties

Anyone who sells or delivers alcohol to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to 6 months imprisonment. This also applies to selling alcohol to someone who will supply alcohol to someone who is underage and allowing someone who is underage to drink alcohol on your licensed premises.

Anyone who does not display the required warning notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Video works, such as films, and video games are classified based on their content. They are rated based on their suitability for different age groups. The sale, hire, loan and exchange of all video works are regulated. Video works and games must be labelled with their correct classification.

Certain video works are exempt from classification, such as educational material.

You must exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure that you do not sell video works or games to anyone under the legal age. See prevent underage sales.

Video works classification

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) classifies video works according to the material they contain (criminal behaviour, sex, violence, bad language, drugs, etc). It can issue or refuse classification certificates.

There are a number of classifications:

• U – suitable for all
• PG – parental guidance
• 12A – cinema release suitable for 12 years and older
• 12 – video release suitable for 12 years and older
• 15 – suitable only for 15 years and older
• 18 – suitable only for adults
• R18 – adult works suitable only for licensed premises

Video works rated U and PG can be sold to customers of any age. The other ratings may only be sold to customers above the rating age.

Video games classification

The Video Standards Council (VSC) is responsible for classifying video games using the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system. Video games are classified as:

• 3 – suitable for all age groups
• 7 – some content may not be suitable for younger children
• 12 – suitable for 12 years and over
• 16 – suitable for 16 years and over
• 18 – suitable for 18 years and over

Games rated 3 and 7 may be sold to anyone. The other ratings may only be sold to those who meet the age requirements.

The PEGI system also includes icons that describe the content that led to the game’s rating, such as violence, bad language or drug references.

Selling age-restricted products online presents issues. Retailers must take steps to prevent sales to underage customers.

This guide applies to all products that have age restrictions on sales, such as:

• alcohol
• tobacco
• nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills)
• spray paints
• fireworks
• video recordings and games

See what products and services are age-restricted by law?

Duty of retailers

Retailers must not sell age-restricted products online to people who are under the minimum legal age. This means setting up systems to verify the age of potential purchasers to ensure they are above the minimum legal age to purchase a product. Legally, retailers must take ‘all reasonable precautions’ and ‘exercise all due diligence’ to avoid committing an offence.

You should regularly check and update your systems to find weaknesses and solve any problems. You should keep up to date with the latest technology.

The law does not define ‘all reasonable precautions’ or ‘due diligence’. However, it is best practice to take positive steps and precautions to comply with the law.

To take these steps and precautions, you must first analyse the risks and research the options available to overcome them.

Checks unlikely to satisfy 'due diligence'

The following steps are unlikely to be enough to comply with the law:

• 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 that they have read the terms and conditions and 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.
• Only accepting payment by credit card. Credit cards are not available to those under 18 but certain debit and prepaid cards are. Your payment systems are unlikely to be able to differentiate between the different types of cards, so it is essential that you have additional age verification in place.

Young people will seek to challenge conventions and test boundaries. Young people could potentially evade proof-of-age checks that are required on the high street when shopping online unless retailers make positive checks.

Age verification checks

Retailers should use robust age verification systems that are suitable for their specific business. Some examples include:

Age verification on delivery

Delivery drivers request valid proof of age to confirm that the purchaser is over the minimum age to buy the product. Third-party couriers may not offer this service. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Online age verification checks

Using software that uses various sources of information to verify both age and identity during the ordering process. 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

If you can’t verify a potential purchaser's age to conclude an online order, you should carry out further checks. For example, asking the customer to provide proof of age, which can then be checked.

Collect in-store

For some retailers that also have a high street presence, purchasers could view and reserve products online and then collect in-store, where staff can verify the customer’s age.

Many websites now require purchasers to set up accounts for future purchases, which means that age verification checks may only be required once.

Cross-border sales

There are specific rules relating to cross-border distance sales of tobacco and e-cigarettes, including the need for an age verification system. In a number of situations, you may be required to register.

In Northern Ireland, the following products and services may only be sold to customers above a certain minimum age:

• Aerosol paint may only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Animals may only be sold to customer over the age of 16.
• Alcohol may only be sold to customers over the age of 18. See selling alcohol.
• Christmas crackers may only be sold to customers over the age of 12.
• Crossbows can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Fireworks – most fireworks may only be sold to customers over 18. Certain categories of low-hazard indoor fireworks may be sold to customers over 16. See selling fireworks.
• Knives (including cutlery and kitchen knives) can only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
• Lighter refills containing butane must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18.
• National Lottery tickets and scratch cards can only be sold to customers over 18 years of age. People over the age of 16 may sell or purchase tickets for society lotteries, private lotteries and small lotteries at exempt entertainment.
• Nicotine-inhaling products – it is illegal to sell nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products.
• Sunbeds – young people under 18 years old may not use, hire or buy sunbeds.
• Tobacco – it is illegal to sell or display tobacco products to young people under the age of 18. See selling tobacco and nicotine inhaling products.
• Video and games – videos and video games are classed into categories with different age restrictions. See selling age-restricted video and games

It is against the law to display or sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18. This includes products such as cigarette papers.

It is also an offence to sell nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s.

You must be able to show that you took “all reasonable precautions” and that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage tobacco sales.  This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

If you sell tobacco products, you must register your business. Failure to register can result in a fine of up to £5,000.

Age verification for tobacco or nicotine inhaling products sales

All retailers who sell tobacco or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) must have an age verification system in place to show that they took 'all reasonable precautions’ and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales. For example, this could include staff training. The type of system you use will depend on the size of your business.

You must take all reasonable steps to make sure a customer is 18 or over.  If in doubt, you must ask for identification. If the young person has no identification or you are in doubt about its authenticity you must refuse to serve the young person.  Excuses like: “I thought he looked 18” or, “They told me they were 18” will not provide you with a defence.

The law forbids all tobacco displays and sales to people under the age of 18. It also prohibits the sale of nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to under 18s. If a young person says, “They’re for my mum” the sale must be refused, even if you know it is true. Otherwise, you will have committed an offence.

See prevent underage sales for examples of age verification systems.

Penalties

Anyone who displays tobacco products to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to two years imprisonment.

Anyone who sells tobacco products including cigarette papers to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

Anyone who sells nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000.

A retailer found to be in breach of relevant legislation three times in a five-year period could face further sanctions in the form of either a restricted sale order or a restricted premises order. Such an order can prohibit the sale of tobacco or cigarette papers by a named individual or business premises for up to three years. A retailer who breaches an order can be fined up to £20,000. These sanctions can also be applied to the sale of nicotine inhaling products.

An adult who buys, or attempts to buy, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills), on behalf of a minor (known as proxy purchasing) can also be fined up to £5,000.

In Northern Ireland, local councils are responsible for enforcing tobacco control laws. The Environmental Health department of your local council can provide further advice and guidance. Find your local council in Northern Ireland.

Warning notices

Any shop that sells tobacco related products must display a warning notice, stating: "It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18".

This notice must be displayed at the point of sale where it can be easily seen by customers and staff. Make sure other notices and advertisements do not cover any part of it or make it hard to see the message. Warning notices must be at least A3 in size with lettering not less than 36mm high

Anyone carrying on a business selling tobacco who does not display the notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Displaying tobacco products

It is illegal to display tobacco products in all relevant shops and businesses in Northern Ireland, except to people over 18 years of age, and only in limited circumstances. Age checks must be carried out before any tobacco product is shown to a customer.

As a retailer you will be permitted to temporarily display tobacco products in the following circumstances:

• following requests to purchase tobacco products by customers over 18 (known as “Requested Displays”)
• incidental displays while staff are actively checking stock or restocking
• incidental displays while cleaning, maintaining or refurbishing the storage unit
• during staff training
• following a request by an enforcement officer

Certain, limited, exemptions exist for specialist tobacconists.

It is illegal to sell tobacco products directly to the public through a vending machine.

It is illegal to sell age-restricted products to a person under the minimum age. You must be able to show that you took 'all reasonable precautions' and exercised 'all due diligence' to prevent underage sales.

You can do this by setting up effective systems within your business. These systems should be regularly monitored and updated. This will help you spot and fix problems or weaknesses. You should keep up to date with any new technology to help prevent underage sales. This means that:

• you set up a system of control
• you took due regard to the risks involved
• you regularly check to make sure your system works
• you can prove that you did this

Age verification systems

It is not enough to simply ask a young person’s age or date of birth as they may just lie. Key best-practice features of an effective system include:

Age verification checks

Verify the age of potential buyers by asking to see ID. Look carefully at the ID to make sure the photo matches the customer and check the date of birth proves the person is of age. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Challenge 25

A scheme to carry out age verification checks on anyone who looks younger than 25. It can be difficult to tell the age of a young person. Checking the ID of anyone who appears under-25 can help you avoid mistakes.

Staff training

Make sure your staff receive adequate training on underage sales. Keep a training record and make sure the training is regularly updated.

Till prompts

You can use prompts that appear on the till when an age-restricted product is scanned to remind staff to carry out age verification checks.

Store layout, signage and CCTV

Keep your age-restricted products where staff can monitor them. For example, fireworks stored on the shop floor must by law be kept in a secure cabinet. Use signs to inform consumers of the minimum legal age to purchase. You must display notices for tobacco and fireworks.

Keep and maintain a refusals register

This means keeping a record (date, time, incident, description of potential buyer) where sales of age-restricted products have been refused. This helps show that you refuse sales to underage people and have an effective system in place.

Refusing sales

If a young person cannot prove their age with ID or if you suspect the ID is not genuine - you must refuse the sale.

Saying no can embarrass a customer, so you should be tactful. Always be polite, professional and calm. Tell the customer that a valid ID is required by the business’ policy and by law.

It is against the law to sell an age-restricted product to a minor who is buying on behalf of an adult. For example, you must not sell cigarettes or nicotine-inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) to someone under 18, even if you know they are buying them for their parent.

You should also refuse the sale if you suspect an adult is buying an age-restricted product on behalf of someone underage. For example, it is an offence for an adult to purchase, or attempt to purchase, tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills) on behalf of a child (known as proxy purchasing)

Accepted forms of ID

You should have a policy that only accepts recognised forms of ID. This could include:

• Drivers' licence
• Passport
• Electoral identity card
• ID with the PASS symbol, such as a 'citizencard'

Businesses who want to sell alcohol in Northern Ireland must have a licence to sell alcohol.

It is against the law to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

It is also illegal to sell or deliver alcohol to anyone who will then supply it to a person under the age of 18.

You must not allow young people under the age of 18 to drink alcohol on your licensed premises. This includes in any premises you own or run that adjoin or are near your licensed premises.

Preventing underage alcohol sales

You must be able to show that you “exercised all due diligence” to prevent underage alcohol sales. You must also be able to prove you had no reason to suspect that a person buying alcohol was under 18 years old. Generally, this means that you should request suitable identification documentation (ID) when required.

Setting up an age verification system in your business should provide you with robust proof that you took the necessary steps to avoid committing an offence.

See prevent underage sales for information on acceptable forms of ID and how to set up an age verification system.

Warning notices

Licensed premises must display a notice stating that it is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18 years of age. The notice must also include accepted forms of ID for proving age.

The notice must be displayed at all times at each place in the premises where alcohol is sold and in a position where it is readily visible to any person seeking to purchase alcohol.

Penalties

Anyone who sells or delivers alcohol to anyone under 18 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or face up to 6 months imprisonment. This also applies to selling alcohol to someone who will supply alcohol to someone who is underage and allowing someone who is underage to drink alcohol on your licensed premises.

Anyone who does not display the required warning notice can be fined up to £1,000.

Video works, such as films, and video games are classified based on their content. They are rated based on their suitability for different age groups. The sale, hire, loan and exchange of all video works are regulated. Video works and games must be labelled with their correct classification.

Certain video works are exempt from classification, such as educational material.

You must exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure that you do not sell video works or games to anyone under the legal age. See prevent underage sales.

Video works classification

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) classifies video works according to the material they contain (criminal behaviour, sex, violence, bad language, drugs, etc). It can issue or refuse classification certificates.

There are a number of classifications:

• U – suitable for all
• PG – parental guidance
• 12A – cinema release suitable for 12 years and older
• 12 – video release suitable for 12 years and older
• 15 – suitable only for 15 years and older
• 18 – suitable only for adults
• R18 – adult works suitable only for licensed premises

Video works rated U and PG can be sold to customers of any age. The other ratings may only be sold to customers above the rating age.

Video games classification

The Video Standards Council (VSC) is responsible for classifying video games using the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system. Video games are classified as:

• 3 – suitable for all age groups
• 7 – some content may not be suitable for younger children
• 12 – suitable for 12 years and over
• 16 – suitable for 16 years and over
• 18 – suitable for 18 years and over

Games rated 3 and 7 may be sold to anyone. The other ratings may only be sold to those who meet the age requirements.

The PEGI system also includes icons that describe the content that led to the game’s rating, such as violence, bad language or drug references.

Selling age-restricted products online presents issues. Retailers must take steps to prevent sales to underage customers.

This guide applies to all products that have age restrictions on sales, such as:

• alcohol
• tobacco
• nicotine inhaling products (including e-cigarettes/vapes or refills)
• spray paints
• fireworks
• video recordings and games

See what products and services are age-restricted by law?

Duty of retailers

Retailers must not sell age-restricted products online to people who are under the minimum legal age. This means setting up systems to verify the age of potential purchasers to ensure they are above the minimum legal age to purchase a product. Legally, retailers must take ‘all reasonable precautions’ and ‘exercise all due diligence’ to avoid committing an offence.

You should regularly check and update your systems to find weaknesses and solve any problems. You should keep up to date with the latest technology.

The law does not define ‘all reasonable precautions’ or ‘due diligence’. However, it is best practice to take positive steps and precautions to comply with the law.

To take these steps and precautions, you must first analyse the risks and research the options available to overcome them.

Checks unlikely to satisfy 'due diligence'

The following steps are unlikely to be enough to comply with the law:

• 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 that they have read the terms and conditions and 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.
• Only accepting payment by credit card. Credit cards are not available to those under 18 but certain debit and prepaid cards are. Your payment systems are unlikely to be able to differentiate between the different types of cards, so it is essential that you have additional age verification in place.

Young people will seek to challenge conventions and test boundaries. Young people could potentially evade proof-of-age checks that are required on the high street when shopping online unless retailers make positive checks.

Age verification checks

Retailers should use robust age verification systems that are suitable for their specific business. Some examples include:

Age verification on delivery

Delivery drivers request valid proof of age to confirm that the purchaser is over the minimum age to buy the product. Third-party couriers may not offer this service. If charged with an offence and required to appear in court, licensees, their servants or agents, may rely on a defence of due diligence if they record the description of the proof of age document shown on delivery, in a delivery book or on an invoice.

Online age verification checks

Using software that uses various sources of information to verify both age and identity during the ordering process. 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

If you can’t verify a potential purchaser's age to conclude an online order, you should carry out further checks. For example, asking the customer to provide proof of age, which can then be checked.

Collect in-store

For some retailers that also have a high street presence, purchasers could view and reserve products online and then collect in-store, where staff can verify the customer’s age.

Many websites now require purchasers to set up accounts for future purchases, which means that age verification checks may only be required once.

Cross-border sales

There are specific rules relating to cross-border distance sales of tobacco and e-cigarettes, including the need for an age verification system. In a number of situations, you may be required to register.