UK age assurance shift driven by mDLs, regulation, public safety

Age assurance for online retail purchases is becoming increasingly common in the UK, as merchants peddling alcohol, tobacco and weapons face new online safety regulations. The UK’s retail sector is in favor of the shift toward using digital IDs such as mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) for age checks. Age assurance providers are making impressions at a major U.S. retail conference. And a recent knife attack has spurred Prime Minister Keir Starmer to table stronger age checks for knife sales.

Digital driving licenses get thumbs up from UK convenience store chief

The head of UK trade group Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), has published a blog on how digital driving licences can be used to help people prove their age.

ACS chief executive James Lowman says that when an ACS member or their colleague is presented with a digital ID for age assurance, they need to know whether they can accept digital proof of age, which digital and physical proof of age schemes can be used, and how to check that the proof is valid and that the person buying the product is the rightful holder of that proof.

The answers, which are necessary for retailers to know they are conducting a lawful transaction, are still not entirely clear. However, standards are in progress.

Lowman says the National Proof of Age Standards (PASS) scheme, for which Lowman serves on the board, can help prevent a glut of different systems by defining online age assurance standards. The government’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework, overseen by new regulator OfDIA, sets out what makes digital ID reliable and trustworthy. And PASS also now has an answer on the process for checking digital proof of age: “two quick scans and the proof of age can be verified with minimal data transfer.”

On mDLs and digital ID generally, says Lowman, “there’s a big prize here and I think that PASS’s solution is the best way to claim it.”

“Digital proof of age, including a digital driving licence, offers real benefits for local shops. We need to stay at the centre of discussions on how this is used in stores so that we can fully realise these.”

Knife sales in UK to require tougher age assurance measures

The UK government intends to fact-track age assurance measures for knife purchases, in response to the June 2024 stabbing attack in Southport that left three children dead at a dance studio.

The BBC reports that the murderer in that case, Axel Rudakubana, bought a knife off of Amazon when he was 17 years old. Existing UK laws prohibit the sale of most knives to anyone under 18.

At present, Amazon simply asks if buyers are over 18 and indicates that “proof of age and a signature will be required on delivery.”

Now Prime Minister Keir Starmer is promising to crack down on underage knife sales, citing the Southport attacker as an example of why it’s too easy for kids to buy potentially lethal knives.

In a recent opinion piece for The Sun, the PM writes that “time and again, as a child, the Southport murderer carried knives. Time and again, he showed clear intent to use them. And yet tragically, he was still able to order the murder weapon off the internet without any checks or barriers.” Labelling Rudakubana a “two-click killer,” Starmer says, “this cannot continue.”

“The technology is there to set up age-verification checks, even for kitchen knives ordered online.”

The new laws would require online retailers to ask anyone buying a knife for two types of government ID, including a digital identity document such as a passport, and to record a live video to prove their age and authenticate liveness.

Knife crime has been a resurgent issue in the UK, with serious offences up 54 percent between 2016 and 2024. Starmer’s government has promised to cut knife crime in half, and has already introduced personal sanctions for tech executives who fail to cut off illegal knife sales on their platforms.

Regarding the Southport case, Amazon has said it uses “trusted ID verification services to check name, date of birth and address details whenever an order is placed for these bladed items.”

In that case, however, Rudakubana’s age may not have been the main factor. Per the BBC, the killer had been referred to the government’s anti-extremism programme three times, admitted to carrying knives more than 10 times and “showed clear intent to use them.”

Which raises the unfortunate question: should age checks for weapons have integrated background checks to identify teenagers with police records and other red flags?

Yoti backs UK’s first major age estimation deployment for retail knife sales

Unsurprisingly, Yoti is on the leading edge of the knife debate. The UK biometrics firm is providing British high street department store chain John Lewis with its facial age estimation for knife sales.

A brief from Retail Systems says customers buying knives through the John Lewis app will need to provide a selfie for biometric age estimation and liveness detection.

John Lewis is the first major UK retailer to add facial age estimation at checkout for digital knife sales.

E-cigs next on age assurance list as Tobacco and Vapes Bill takes shape

As James Lowman points out, knives are just the tip of the age assurance discussion; there are a lot of age restricted products on the ACS’ approved list. At the top are alcohol, tobacco, vaping and e-cigarette products.

This week, Tony Allen from the Age Check Certification Scheme is exploring the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. On LinkedIn he says discussions on the bill include “proposals for a generational tobacco ban and extension of age restrictions on vapes to non-nicotine containing products. The announcement earlier about double ID for the sale of knives will also be scrutinised.”

ITL please with demand for retail age assurance at NRF

Innovative Technology has come away from the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference in New York satisfied with its business development. In a release, ITL’s Business Development Manager for North America, Brian Bellerose, says ITL “had lots of interest in our biometric technology from some big names in the industry.”

“We look forward to following up on the positive conversations about how our AI-powered age and identity technology can help retailers with accurate and anonymous age checks when selling age-restricted goods like alcohol or tobacco.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  ecommerce  |  face biometrics  |  mDL (mobile driver's license)  |  OfDIA  |  retail biometrics  |  UK