Juul plans to re-enter US with age verification e-cigarettes

Electronic cigarette maker Juul says it has improved its product with an age-verification app in the hopes of getting re-authorized in the United States.

The nation’s Food and Drug Administration ordered Juul to stop selling its vapes a year ago. The primary reason for the ban, according to the FDA, was that the science behind healthful claims was unconvincing.

It did not help that Juul’s ads often were reminiscent of now-banned cigarette messaging, which often make smoking look sophisticated, fun and adult to young people.

The company is trying to win FDA permission for sales with a number of design changes including age verification.

Few details of how this would work are provided, but Juul reportedly will use a selfie compared to a government ID. Purchasing one of the company’s cigarettes also will require a photo of an ID. Once verified, the devices will be unlocked via Bluetooth connection.

Juul noted that identity and age verification for its online sales are provided by Jumio’s face biometrics software NetVerify and Veratad’s AgeMatch in a 2020 submission to a government official of the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Fingerprint scans as a key to unlock vapes go back at least to 2014.

It is not known when the FDA will take a second look at the devices.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  document verification  |  mobile app  |  selfie biometrics  |  United States