Charities want age-verification systems for online shops

The House of Lords is reviewing a Private Members' Bill that would make it mandatory for online retailers to adopt age-verification systems.

The Online Purchasing of Goods and Services (Age Verification) Bill, introduced by Labour peer Baroness Massey of Darwen, was initially proposed by Margaret Moran MP in 2008 and aims to prevent the sales of age-restricted goods and services to children.

Baroness Massey said she was supporting the Bill following research that showed a 14-year-old boy was able to buy pornographic videos from Amazon and knives from Tesco's online store. She also referred to a recent exercise carried out by Greenwich Trading Standards in which a 16-year-old boy tested the age-verification safeguards used by online retailers.

Calling it a "short but significant" Bill, Baroness Massey said it would force online retailers and those who facilitate the sale of goods and services to abide by existing law governing age-restricted products.

“Self-regulation is not working. Very few online retailers have procedures in place to prevent underage young people buying almost anything over the internet. Unless companies can be sure that they are selling goods or services legally, they should stop selling online," said the Labour peer.

The Bill is supported by the Children's Charities Coalition on Internet Safety (CCCIS), which also says it is too easy for children to buy alcohol, knives and violent video games online.

The sting run by Trading Standards would appear to back up these claims. The youth was able to buy knives from Debenhams and Amazon using a prepaid Splash maestro card registered with his real date of birth and address.

Only three of the online retailers asked the volunteer to confirm his age at the time of making the purchase. But he got around the system by giving false information about his age, with no requirement to provide documentary proof.

John Carr, chairman of the CCCIS, which comprises Barnardo's, the National Children's Bureau and Action for Children, said: “We have been campaigning for retailers to do this since 2004 and it is clear that online retailers are still failing to stop minors from buying products.”

He said the age-verification technologies used by gaming sites should be used by all retailers to stop children buying goods only meant for adults.

However, the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) has said it will be very expensive for retailers to adopt such systems.

James Roper, IMRG chief executive, said: “If the Government wants to introduce legislation then that’s fine but it needs to work with the industry to share the data it holds on people and cut the costs of expensive systems retailers will have to put in place.”

The Bill will be decided by the House of Lords on Friday.