ITL renews Primary Authority partnership, debuts MyCheckr in Pakistan

UK biometrics provider Innovative Technology (ITL) has “renewed and enhanced” its Primary Authority partnership for age assurance technology with Buckinghamshire and Surrey (BSTS) Trading Standards, as announced in a press release.

John Vallis, senior business development manager for ITL’s age and identity technology, confirms that “BSTS Primary Authority has observed the operation of MyCheckr, MyCheckr Mini and ICU Lite devices vigorously.” For the second year in a row, the authority is satisfied that ITL’s biometric digital identity tools “can legally be used in a retail setting to provide a visual guide to sales staff as to whether customers look age 25 or over.”

Thus, the partnership supports retailers using our age estimation products in the fight to prevent minors accessing alcohol, tobacco and vapes,” by giving ITL’s customers “confidence that our technology can legally be implemented within our customers’ own age verification policies, for both manned and supervised self-service tills.”

The supervised self-service part is significant: ITL highlights advice from the partnership that its ITL Connect Hub and App, which connects multiple devices and sends instant notifications for any underage purchase attempts, “can also be used in a self-checkout environment for all products including alcohol.”

Senior Trading Standards Officer Joanne Cook expounds: “ITL’s devices can be used in a supervised self-checkout area, or as a guide to the member of staff on a manned checkout, who can then make the final decision as to whether the customer is old enough or not to make the purchase.”

Cook says the technology is “great for bolstering protection and takes away the human element by reducing responsibility on staff to make a judgment on a person’s age, which is often a really difficult thing to do.”

ITL’s anonymous biometric age estimation technology, which relays the results to both the till operator and customer, is designed to support the UK Challenge 25 retail policy. Per the release, the Primary Authority Scheme “allows businesses to partner with a local authority, who can then provide advice and guidance in relation to compliance.”

Age assurance demos at conferences in Pakistan, Germany

ITL’s MyCheckr assisted age estimation device made its debut in the expo market in February at the inaugural Vape Expo Pakistan in Lahore. A release says the conference also featured a session from ITL’s Biometric Product Manager, Andrew O’Brien, on how to prevent youth access in the vape industry using edge technology.

John Vallis explains the demo further: “a line of MyCheckr devices were placed outside the venue entrance which was restricted to 18+ delegates – the legal age to purchase and use vapes in Pakistan. If the device turned red, detecting a potentially underage delegate, the security staff were on hand to ID the visitor.”

Amir Saeed, a representative from Vape Expo Pakistan, says MyChekr “gave accurate results in seconds and flagged any potential underage customers so exhibition attendants could ask them to present ID. It was a great aid for venue staff, ensured no one underage entered the exhibition and helped prevent any confrontation during the age check process.”

ITL also debuted its products at the ProWein 2025 exhibition held at Messe Düsseldorf this month, showcasing the MyCheckr and MyCheckr Mini age check devices there for the first time.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Innovative Technology  |  Pakistan  |  retail biometrics