Report highlights issues with underage online sales

A new report reveals a range of concerns relating to the sale of alcohol to under 18s online, making a number of recommendations to tighten their circumvention.

Download the report 'Effective age-gating for underage sales' here [pdf].

The report, released by Alcohol Change UK, finds current methods of age verification are largely ineffectual. When implemented online, they often involve simple 'honour’ checks, which are easily deceived, or alternative forms of authentication that can be bypassed in various ways. Implemented offline, by delivery drivers, etc., they are known to be ineffective in practice. A particular difficulty arises when alcohol is part of a larger online shopping cart, which can lead to it going unnoticed. The report therefore questions the appropriateness of online age-gating (AG) or age-verification (AV) processes.

See here for a blog from the report's authors Jessica Muirhead and Professor Vic Grout of Wrexham Glyndŵr University.

This report makes the following recommendations regarding the online purchase of alcohol by under 18s:

1. The law must be clarified
2. No confidence should be placed in existing safeguards
3. Items within online ‘shopping baskets’ should be considered individually
4. The use of MCC codes and bank authorisation processes should be extended
5. Relevant emerging technology should be continuously monitored