Global demand for age estimation, verification drives deals for ITL, new entrants

Innovative Technology’s in-person age estimation technology has won a vote of trust from Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards, while startup firms push for verification in onboarding and the vaping and e-cigarette sector. Plus, order beer for delivery in Australia and use a digital driver’s license to show proof of age.

ITL wins partnership with Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards

Innovative Technology (ITL) has confirmed a Primary Authority Partnership with Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards for the use of their biometric age estimation technology by retailers selling age-restricted goods. In a release, the company says the partnership signifies a demonstrated commitment to compliance.

“We are delighted to announce that we have secured a Primary Authority Partnership which will support retailers using our age estimation products, in the fight to prevent minors accessing alcohol, tobacco and vapes,” says John Vallis, senior business development manager for ITL’s biometrics range. ITL’s biometric age estimation products, MyCheckr and MyCheckr Mini, provide anonymous point-of-sale age estimation.

“This partnership essentially means that consumers can trust that our age estimation technology, if implemented appropriately into an age verification policy, and used in accordance with the guidance, is a compliant visual aid,” says Vallis.

A representative for Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards says testing and observation have given the firm confidence that ITL’s tools “can be used to provide a visual guide to sales staff as to whether customers look age 25 or over and therefore assist retailers to comply with their legal obligations when selling age restricted products.”

Per the release, a Primary Authority Partnership is a statutory scheme established by the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008, which allows eligible businesses to form a legal partnership with a single local authority (or “primary authority”) in relation to regulatory compliance.

New Volume tool enables instant onboarding in one click

Volume’s latest offering is One-Click Verification, a complement to its One-Click checkout product. One-Click Verification offers streamlined age verification, authentication and compliance with regulatory standards for merchants in online gaming, money remittance, crypto and fintech.

A release from the company, which has offices in London and Krakow, says One-Click Verification provides a seamless framework for user onboarding by tapping into user data available in their bank app, avoiding the risk of dropoff. It cites a study from YouGov UK showing that 40 percent of individuals who started to create an account on a UK financial services or gaming website did not complete their registration.

“Traditional KYC processes often create roadblocks for businesses and users,” says Krzysztof Tarnawski, CTO at Volume. He says Volume’s reusable credentials and self-sovereign identity (SSI) ensure a secure and privacy-focused identity verification process that lowers the risk of fraud, meets KYC needs while adhering to local regulatory standards, reduces dropoff rates and offers insights into user spending patterns and account balances.

Joint venture for smart vape tech unites Ispire, Berify, Chemular

Ispire Technology Inc., a major producer of vapes, has launched a joint venture with the makers of Berify, which equips hardware with analytics, security and marketing tools via a smart tag; and Chemular International Inc., a regulatory consulting firm. A release from Ispire says the partners have committed to expediting innovation in the e-cigarette and vape space, including the development of secure, user-friendly solutions for age verification and age-gating.

The venture, which the release calls “the first of its kind,” will aim to introduce a standard age-verification component for vapor devices, and work to submit premarket tobacco applications (PMTA) to the FDA for a variety of new e-cigarette products, including on-device point-of-use age-verification and geofencing that prevents use in school zones and other restricted areas.

Other PMTA plans include e-cigarettes with blockchain capability and real-time biometric digital identity verification for user access controls.

“By combining our collective expertise in hardware, blockchain and regulatory consulting, we aim to set a new standard for age verification, security and overall quality in the e-cigarette space,” says Ispire Technology Co-Chief Executive Officer Michael Wang. “Our hope is that this joint venture will be a large step forward in innovative device control, safety, counterfeit prevention and enhanced user experiences that increase overall market and consumer satisfaction.”

“The U.S. market is ripe for technological disruption that addresses age-verification, safety and counterfeit issues,” says Berify Chief Executive Officer Dan Kang. “We plan to achieve this by leveraging our blockchain authentication, tokenized rewards and creating true decentralization while keeping companies in-control of their products and data.”

Uber now takes mobile driver’s licenses for booze delivery Australia

Finally, no more scrambling around for that misplaced ID when you just want a cold Foster’s lager. A blog post from Uber says the company’s ID scanning tool now accepts digital driver’s licenses for age verification on alcohol deliveries in select Australian provinces. New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland currently offer digital driver’s licenses, although others are expected to follow as Australia treads the path to digitization.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric age estimation  |  biometrics  |  Innovative Technology  |  Uber