Age Verification in the Alcohol Industry
Age verification is required by law in the alcohol industry as millions of Americans and overseas alcohol buyers begin selling more products online since the onset of COVID-19. Therefore, both stores and online retailers are subject to more scrutiny to ensure they take all reasonable precautions to verify age when selling alcohol. Age verification solutions are non-existent in most industries, whether or not personal online efforts are made to prevent minors from accessing beer or other alcoholic products. In this blog, we will talk about age verification solutions in the alcohol industry, including how your business can avoid serving and selling alcohol to minors.
Many age verification solutions are technical add-ons to websites that aim to verify age and restrict access to adults over the age of majority (in that particular state/jurisdiction). Follow means that online retailers must implement effective age verification systems that can identify and verify the age of shoppers to ensure they are over the legal age to purchase alcohol. Licensees must require the person placing an order for alcohol to "certify that they are of age as required by Section 3-3-23 of the Code" and to verify the sender's age by physically examining a government-approved form of identification or using an approved online identification and age service. Licensees must verify the age of the person placing the order by obtaining a copy of a Kansas, out-of-state, or federal-issued photo ID or by using an identity verification service (many approved by the Michigan Alcohol Control Commission).
Because third party vendors (TPPs) are not licensed, in most cases TPPs have no legal obligation to verify the consumer's age; you are responsible for checking the LDA. Taxation places an uneven burden on the licensee (and in some cases, the seller of age-restricted products does not have the ability or the means to fully comply if not trying at all).
Each state or region has its own laws and regulations governing where and to whom (including at what age) alcohol and age-restricted products may be sold. The United States has federal and state protection for minors who wish to purchase alcohol and age-restricted products online and in person.
There may be additional licensing requirements or other restrictions associated with the sale of alcohol over the Internet. If you sell physical items or food and drink, you may sell alcohol through Square Online if allowed by law in your area. You may offer in-store or street delivery of alcoholic beverages in accordance with local laws and regulations.
You are responsible for verifying the age of majority of your customers when selling age-restricted goods or services when selling alcohol for in-store and street pickup, domestic delivery, or self-service ordering. The following states have clear age verification rules for direct shippers of alcoholic beverages. The rest of the states ban the sale of alcohol to minors, but may not have clear guidelines detailing how direct shippers must verify the age of consumers.
One of the main challenges facing regulators in the alcoholic beverage market is ensuring that alcohol is not sold or delivered to minors. Age verification is not enough and all retailers should do more to limit the sale of alcohol to minors. Identity verification services should focus on validating identity documents and ensuring that minors are prohibited from contacting alcohol and age-restricted products.
By using government ID documents to verify the age of customers, both businesses and customers can help create a safer online marketplace for age-restricted items like alcohol. AI-powered online identity verification solutions can help online alcohol retailers restrict underage users in real time without hampering legitimate customers. In addition to the ubiquitous ID scanner, new technologies such as mobile driver's licenses and biometrics are being used and tested to help retailers manage age verification when delivering alcohol.
The new Age Checked app uses data sources such as UK electoral rolls, credit card information, mobile searches and driving licenses to check customers' ages behind the scenes. The new Age Checked app is the first truly compliant app for Shopify stores that sell age-restricted items like alcohol, knives or vaping products. The Twitter age verification process means alcohol brands can set up age filtering elements on their Twitter accounts by directly contacting Twitter staff.
Alcohol companies are happy to put these age verification pages on their web pages. The reason they exist is because some people who think it will help keep young people away from these sites have convinced many in the alcohol industry that it is an effective tool. These age-verification pages proved not only annoying, but also put those under drinking age at risk of severe penalties for misrepresenting their age when browsing the company's website. If the company actually sells alcohol online, age verification would make sense -- like showing your ID -- but it's a little confusing to do it on a site dedicated to alcohol.
What makes the issue of age restrictions especially interesting is that, according to Cable, restricting access to information about alcohol can do more harm than good. Instead, alcohol brands were persuaded to add age restrictions as a public service on the pretext that it would benefit the youth. While there has been a marked increase in age controls in the offline environment, which has contributed to a marked curtailment of the illegal sale of alcohol and sale to minors, it is becoming clear that online alcohol sales are a potential area of vulnerability for the retail sector. All jurisdictions in the United States require due diligence in the verification of identification documents for the sale of alcohol.
