Advice to business - Under age sales

Information about under age sales.

Age restricted products

The law prohibits the supply certain products to persons under certain ages. The following is designed to guide you through the requirements of the law and assist in compliance.

Children and Young Persons (Protection From Tobacco) Act 1991

Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Under this legislation, it is an offence for any person to sell cigarettes, tobacco products or cigarette papers to anyone under 18 years of age, even if they look older. This is the case whether or not the cigarettes are for the young person's own use. It is also an offence to sell cigarettes unless they are in quantities of ten or more and in their original packaging. This means that packets of cigarettes cannot be split to sell lesser quantities.

The following warning notice must be exhibited in a prominent position, which is clearly visible to anyone purchasing cigarettes, at every retail premise at which tobacco is sold. It must not be less than 297mm x 420mm (A3), with no character being less than 36mm in height.

The following vending machine notice must be exhibited on every automatic vending machine used for the sale of tobacco.

The notice must not be less than 60mm x 100mm, with characters no less than 6mm high. It must be clearly visible to anyone using the machine.

Failure to exhibit these warning signs is an offence and the owner of the machine or the premises may be liable.

The Courts may make an order regulating the use or removal of vending machines from premises if they are satisfied that a person under the age of 16 has used it.

Offensive Weapons Act 1996

It is an offence for a person to sell to a person under the age of 18:

• any knife, knife blade or razor blade;
• any axe;
• any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed, and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person.

Whether a particular article is a knife is a question of fact, but, using a wider definition, this legislation prohibits sales of e.g. sheath knives, kitchen knives, craft knives and carpet knives to persons under the age of 18.

This legislation does not apply to folding pocket knives if the cutting edge of the blade is less than 3 inches or 7.62cm. Nor does it apply to replacement cartridges for safety razors, where less than 2mm of the blade is exposed.

The Fireworks (Safety) Regulations 1997 (as Amended)

These Regulations prohibit the supply of fireworks and assemblies to a person under the age of 18. The age limit remains at 16 for caps, cracker snaps, novelty matches, party poppers, serpents and throwdowns, by virtue of the Explosives Act 1875 (as amended).

The Fireworks Regulations 2004

These Regulations require that, where adult fireworks are supplied or exposed for supply in any premises, a notice is displayed in a prominent position in those premises, no less than 400mm by 300mm with letters no less than 16mm high, giving the following information:

The Video Recordings Act 1984

It is an offence to supply, or offer to supply, a video recording to any person who has not attained the age specified on the recording. This legislation applies to video films, video games and computer games.

It is a defence to show that you neither knew, nor had reasonable grounds to believe, that:

• the classification certificate contained the statement in relation to the specified age, or
• the person concerned had not attained the specified age, or
• that you had reasonable grounds to believe that the supply was, or would have been, an exempted supply, as defined by legislation. If you sell video films by retail, you will not be dealing with exempted supplies.

The Classifications are as follows:

Intoxicating Substances (Supply) Act 1985

An offence is committed under this legislation if volatile substances or solvent-based products are sold, and it is believed that they are for a person under the age of 18, and that they are likely to be inhaled for the purposes of becoming intoxicated. This offence applies even when it is known that another person is buying the product for the person under the age of 18.

Special attention should be paid to young persons -

• buying volatile substances and nothing else;
• buying plastic bags at the same time as volatile substances;
• displaying signs similar to drunkenness;
• with spots and sores around mouth and nose.

However, solvents may be sold to persons under 18 for their normal intended use.

The Cigarette Lighter Refill (Safety) Regulations 1999

It is an offence to supply cigarette lighter refill canisters containing butane to anyone under 18.

National Lottery, etc. Act 1993

National Lottery Regulations 1994

It is an offence to sell National Lottery (LOTTO) tickets and Instant Win cards (scratch cards) to any person under 16. The Regulations also require anyone selling such products to be 16 or over.

Licensing Act 1964 / Licensing Act 2003

This is jointly enforced by the police and Trading Standards. It is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18, to purchase alcohol for anyone under 18, or for a person under 18 to sell alcohol, unless approved by the licencee or other responsible person aged over 18. The seller and licensee may be liable for offences.

Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928

It may be a licensing condition that anyone in charge of a petrol station must be at least 18, and anyone dispensing petrol, or operating a petrol dispensing system, must be at least 16.

Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003

It is an offence to sell aerosol spray paint to persons aged under 16.

Due diligence and reasonable precautions

Some of the above legislation has defences available, namely that the accused took all reasonable precautions, and exercised all due diligence, to avoid committing an offence. In relation to video recordings, as well as these defences, you will also need to show that the offence was due to the act or default of another person, other than the accused. Even where no due diligence defences are available, it is recommended that the guidelines below are followed as best practice.

As most of the above offences are of strict liability, this means that they can occur even when the owner is not in the shop. To avoid committing these offences, it is advised that the legislation be brought to the attention of all staff via regular training. It is important that you can prove that your staff have understood what is required of them under the legislation. This can be done by keeping a record of the training and asking the member of staff to sign to say that they have understood it. These should then be checked and signed on a regular basis by management or the owner.

Members of staff should be advised that they, themselves, may be personally liable if they sell to young persons in breach of the legal requirements. If there is any doubt about a person's age, proof of age should be requested. This could be a passport, photo driving licence, or other photo proof of age, such as a Citizencard or Validate card. If there is still doubt, the sale should not be allowed to take place. All refusals should be recorded on a Refusal Sales Sheet or a Refusal Book. Maintaining a Refusal Book will strengthen a case for due diligence.

Although the law does not always specify a minimum age for being able to sell certain goods, the age of the member of staff may be considered in any claims of due diligence.

If you possess an EPOS system, it may be possible to use it to remind staff via a prompt. Alternatively, stickers can be used over certain product bar codes.

Posters showing age limits should be displayed and contain a statement regarding the refusal of such sales. This would then deter potential purchasers and act as a reminder to members of staff.

Contact Details

Consumer Advice and Information in Solihull, is now provided by our partners at Consumer Direct West Midlands. Consumer Direct is a telephone and online consumer advice service, which is supported by local authorities (Trading Standards) and Central Government. If you do need support or assistance from Trading Standards, you will of course be referred to them by Consumer Direct.