Internet Age Verification in UK

An MP is calling for a change in the law to force online retailers to introduce tougher age verification to prevent children being able to buy alcohol, cigarettes or pornography on the internet.

The Ten Minute Rule Bill proposed by Labour MP for Luton South, Margaret Moran, seeks to make it a statutory requirement for retailers to verify the ages of consumers who attempt to purchase age-restricted goods such as alcohol, cigarettes, pornography, or try to gamble online. She wants to see any retailer who fails to do this face a hefty fine or even imprisonment.

In a statement, Moran said: My Bill aims to ensure online retailers take their responsibilities more seriously. Children can now get hold of some very disturbing items, things they would never be able to buy if they walked into a shop. It has to stop.

The Bill is in response to a reliance by retailers on consumers declaring they are above the legal age to buy restricted goods. Essentially this is an honour system which goes no further to check shoppers are the age they say they are.

Moran said: It is clear that currently there are inadequate checks put in place by a large number of online retailers and if they are going to continue to drag their heels over this issue then it is up to Parliament to ensure our children are better protected.

A Bill which aims to control the online sale of age-restricted goods will be presented to the House of Lords on 8th May 2009 for its second reading by Baroness Doreen Massey, Chair of the All-Party Children's group.

Baroness Massey's Online Purchasing of Goods and Services (Age Verification) Bill is calling for all online retailers who sell age-restricted goods to establish a system to allow them to determine whether or not a person purchasing the products meet the legal minimum age.

The main products which would be affected by the Bill are: knives; alcohol; tobacco; some video games and DVDs; solvents and spray paints.

The provisions of Baroness Massey's Bill are in line with the Gambling Act 2005 which has resulted in remote gambling operators now using specialist companies to carry out verification or online databases to verify the age of the buyer, rather than users merely ticking a box to confirm that they are over 18, as had previously been common practice.

A proposal that will force online retailers to take extra steps to ensure that young people cannot buy or access inappropriate goods or material will moves one step closer to becoming law. The Online Purchasing of Goods and Services (Age Verification) Bill was set receive its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday.

The Bill proposes making it a requirement for the providers of goods and services and the providers of specified facilities enabling the purchase of such goods and services to take reasonable steps, in certain circumstances, to establish the age of customers making such purchases. The proposed law refers to goods which it is already illegal to sell to people under the specified ages, such as 16 for cigarettes and 18 for alcohol.

It had previously been introduced in the House of Commons but ran out of Parliamentary time.

Some peers in the Lords raised objections to the Bill, though. The Earl of Erroll said that concerns over payments technology and over the scope of the Bill should cause concern:We must allow young people to buy things online. Many things are only obtainable that way nowadays - certainly the better bargains, he said. We must not outlaw methods of payment that will completely stop them buying anything.

The Earl of Erroll also warned that the Bill was in fact not just about age-restricted goods but gave Government the power to bar access to other materials: The second major problem refers to unconstrained powers. Clause 1(2) provides that the Secretary of State can make regulations that could extend to things that are not covered by legal ages or goods and services covered under current laws. The legal duty to comply with these laws already exists, and I do not think that Parliament should micromanage people in how they do these things. We should not be passing laws just to send a message. That is not a good idea.