AgeChecked has made it easier for companies to comply with age-restricted legislation by forming an Assured Advice Partnership with a Primary Authority Centre of Excellence.
This sees AgeChecked approved approved nationally by Trading Standards – the first UK provider to have its entire range of age verification solutions signed off.
Different local authorities often apply Trading Standards laws in slightly different ways. The AgeChecked system removes this ambiguity. By partnering with a Primary Authority, retailers only need to be concerned with their interpretation of the rules. By using the AgeChecked platform for all their age verification checks, retailers won’t need to follow any conflicting advice from their own authority, as well as most other regulators in the UK. Online retailers will therefore have a significantly reduced risk of enforcement action by their local authority trading standards team.
This is because under Part 2 of the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions A Act 2008, one local authority can act as the Primary Authority in enforcing trading standards laws across the whole of England and Wales. AgeChecked’s Primary Authority will reassure local trading standards that the business is conducting age verification to a sufficient standard to satisfy the law.
To be compliant, it is important for retailers to ensure that their staff have received the right training and that regular due diligence is performed on all systems and processes.
Supplying age restricted goods such as alcohol, offensive weapons, fireworks, tobacco, e-cigarettes, vaping and gambling to minors is a criminal offence. Penalties include a fine or imprisonment. Businesses could also be forbidden from selling these goods in future, while there is also significant reputational damage in not adhering to the law.
AgeChecked makes the process of age verification easy, working with major ecommerce platforms and individual websites to ensure compliance. It is software-as-a-service that provides a simple, straightforward and swift age verification process for the customers. A full audit trail is also created, giving the retailer peace of mind that they can prove they are legally compliant. All age verifications are performed under the BSI’s Code of Practice for Online Age Verification (PAS 1296:2018).
In addition to signing up with AgeChecked, all a retailer needs to do is notify all potential customers about the age-verification policy by inserting a pre-written paragraph within their Privacy Policy.
“As investigations of online retailers increases, our clients increasingly want to not only comply with the law but also be seen to be complying. By joining the coordinated partnership, there is clear evidence offered by our Primary Authority that they are using a high quality, standards-based, independent age verification provider, which will give confidence to their customers, shareholders and other regulators across the country.”
– Alastair Graham, CEO, AgeChecked
Working in partnership with Trading Standards means AgeChecked can provide a simple one-stop solution for age-compliance for companies based anywhere in England and Wales.
