Member

I can assure noble Lords that the age of sale offences apply regardless of whether products are being sold from physical premises or online. Through our regulations, we will provide the necessary clarity that the noble Lord referred to for online retailers on methods of age verification. The noble Lord, Lord Young, and the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, asked about the checking of ID for online purchases. I would expect legitimate retailers to take a range of steps to ensure that they do not sell to underage people, including age-verification checks at the point of delivery, in-store collection, online age-verification checks and follow-up checks offline. I understand the points made and the need to focus on that.