E-commerce trade body, IMRG said it and its members are very aware of the political implications and social responsibilities of age-restricted sales online, as the proposed online age verification laws continue their passage through Parliament.
E-commerce trade body, IMRG said it and its members are very aware of the political implications and social responsibilities of age-restricted sales online, as the proposed online age verification laws continue their passage through Parliament.
With this in mind, the IMRG community has been working hard to facilitate usable age-verification solutions. While some progress has been made using the currently available tools, such as the several commercially available databases, it said none of these are ideal or comprehensive.
It stated: "IMRG welcomes the Government's stated aims of financial and digital inclusion, but flags the outstanding need for usable mechanisms, such as age verification, that will enable retailers and parents to meet their social and legal responsibilities while at the same time protecting the rights of consumers to legitimately purchase products and services."
IMRG retail members and IMRG member, Bond Pearce LLP, have formed an 'Age Verification Online' working party that has set itself this action plan:
- Collectively address the area of age verification as a 'non-competitive' issue
- Seek and coordinate collaboration between relevant parties to formulate a universal Age Verification Standard and a cost effective solution
- Formulate and provide guidance on compliance with online age verification requirements for minors of any regulated age, e.g. for 5, 12, 15, 16 and 18-year-olds.
www.irmg.org