The European Tobacco Products Directive aims to reduce the appeal, accessibility, and visibility of tobacco products among children and adolescents, thus protecting them from starting to use tobacco at a young age.Â
It does not specify detailed age verification requirements for the sale of tobacco products and e-cigarettes. Instead, it mandates that EU Member States prohibit the sale of these products to individuals under the age of 18 and leaves it to each country to establish and enforce specific measures to ensure compliance.Â
This may include:Â Â
Digital Age Verification: For online sales, sellers must implement robust age verification systems before the purchase is completed. This often involves requiring customers to enter their date of birth and provide some form of electronic ID verification, such as uploading a copy of an ID or using credit card verification or email address analysis.
Delivery Verification: In some countries, there are additional requirements for delivery services to verify the age of the recipient at the point of delivery, ensuring that the person receiving the tobacco product or e-cigarette is at least 18 years old.
This Directive officially came into force on May 20, 2016, and affects all those who manufacture and sell e-cigarettes and other tobacco products in the European Union and, notwithstanding Brexit, in the UK too.
Enforcement is led by Member States, so penalties vary across the EU.
Verifymy can assist services with online age verification to the standard set by BSI PAS 1296:2018.
Verifymy’s age assurance solution for any online product, service or business, features the widest range of age verification and age estimation methods to ensure the highest pass rates possible with minimal business disruption.
