In April 2022, the law restricting the sale of knives and corrosive substances in the UK was significantly tightened, now requiring rigorous age checks both before an online purchase and at the point of delivery. These changes were introduced under the Offensive Weapons Act.
The sale of bladed articles has been restricted for many years, most recently under Section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act. This makes it illegal to sell items with a blade or a sharp point to a person under 18. That law covered kitchen and cutlery knives, garden tools, blades, razor blades (with exceptions for cartridges), machetes, and axes. In 2019, butterfly knives and push daggers were added to this list by a Criminal Justice Act.
In the same year, the Offensive Weapons Act was also passed by Parliament. For all these bladed articles, the rules on age verification have been made far stricter. However, the changes in the law have only just been implemented in April 2022 to give retailers time to prepare.
Proven effectiveness
Sellers must now be able to prove that the system they have put in place to prevent online purchases by under-18s is likely to be effective. The package must also clearly mark that it contains a bladed article and can only be handed over to a person aged 18 or older.
Delivery
Another innovation just introduced is to place responsibilities on the delivery company and the seller. These companies must also be able to prove that they took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to prevent the item from being delivered to a person under 18.
Age Verification Compliance
At present, the only relevant international standard for online Age Verification technology is BSI PAS 1296:2018. Some local authorities already require this as a licence condition for online sale of alcohol, so there is a precedent for recognising this as a gold standard.
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