Sale of Age Restricted Goods

Age restricted products

Legislation prohibits the supply (sale or hire) of specific products to persons under certain ages. Tobacco products, offensive weapons (knives and similar), crossbows, fireworks, solvents, airguns, lighter refills containing butane, and alcohol are not to be sold to anyone under the age of 18 years. Caps, party poppers (and similar products), lottery tickets and aerosol paint are not to be sold to anyone under the age of 16 years.

There are different age restrictions on videos and video games, 12 and over, 15 and over and 18 and over. The different pieces of legislation also give requirements for certain warnings and notices to be displayed when selling particular products. Some of the legislation has defences available, namely that the accused took all reasonable precautions, and exercised all due diligence, to avoid committing an offence. Traders should always ask young people to produce proof of their age.

In many instances both the staff member who made the sale and the owner of the business can be held liable for any sale made.

Acceptable proof of age is recognised as a European Driving Licence, Passports or the national Proof of Age Standards scheme (PASS) e.g. Young Scot. Such a card carries the PASS hologram. Further demonstration of due diligence would be to record instances where there are refusals of restricted products to underage children on a refusal sales sheet or a refusal book. Good practice demonstrating due diligence would also be to adopt a think 25 policy which means that if the young person looks under 25 they are required to provide identification to prove that they are over 18.

Tobacco and children

Cigarettes must only be sold in quantities of at least 10 and in their original packaging. A notice must be displayed which states 'it is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18'. Cigarette vending machines must also not be used by anyone under the age of 18 so should be positioned where sales can be observed.

The new Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 came into effect on 1st April 2011.

The Act contains measures aimed specifically at reducing the attractiveness and availability of tobacco to under 18s.

The Act:

• introduces a tobacco sales registration scheme, which is free for retailers to join;
• makes it an offence for under 18s to purchase tobacco;
• makes it an offence for adults to buy tobacco for under 18s (proxy purchase);
• gives trading standards officers powers to issue fixed penalty notices, and
• gives courts the power to ban retailers from selling tobacco where they have continually broken the law.
• bans the display of tobacco and smoking related products in shops*;
• bans the sale of tobacco from vending machines**;

* There are certain exemptions for trade to trade sales and trade-to-trade sales and specialist tobacconists.

The timescales for the display ban has been affected by legal challenges and has yet to be announced. The long lead in time will minimise costs to businesses, particularly small businesses, by allowing them to refit their shop as part of planned refurbishments.

** The ban was due to come into effect in October 2011 but has been affected by legal challenges and the date of the ban is yet to be announced.

Cigarette lighter refills and solvents

The Cigarette Lighter Refill (Safety) Regulations 1999 make it an offence to supply any cigarette lighter refill canister containing butane or a substance with butane as a constituent to any person under the age of 18. In Scotland, common law makes it an offence to recklessly supply substances to people of any age, knowing that they are to be used for the purpose of abuse.

Household products classed as solvents and commonly abused include marker pens, aerosols, anti-freeze and nail varnish. Obvious signs of an abuser include the smell of solvents, slurred speech and spots/sores around the mouth.

It is a criminal offence to sell an aerosol paint container, ie spray paint stored under pressure, to anyone under the age of 16. The Act also requires a notice to be displayed in a prominent position at all retail premises selling spray paints stating: 'It is illegal to sell a spray paint device to anyone under 16'. This is to try to reduce the incidence of graffiti.