The Retailer Spring Edition 2023

THE RETAILER

24

CHANGE IS COMING TO AGE VERIFICATION – WELCOME TO THE NEW DIGITAL AGE

David Nicholls CTO Retail and Hospitality Fujitsu UK

Iain Corby Executive Director Age Verification Providers Association

D igital Age Assurance and how the UK is preparing for its introduction. Change is coming. New legislation concerning Age Verification means that retailers must be sure they are on the front foot in meeting this new and welcome challenge. But how can the latest, innovative technology help? David Nicholls, CTO Retail and Hospitality for Fujitsu in the UK, interviewed Iain Corby (Executive Director) from the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) to understand the work being undertaken by UK Government and what the sector and what you need to do – as a retailer – to be prepared for the introduction of Digital Age Assurance. What exactly is Digital Age Assurance and how will it improve upon current age controls? Digital Age Assurance has two strands - firstly age estimation where new technologies can anonymously estimate a customer’s age at the point of sale - but also age verification that allows registered customers to use their mobile phone to verify their age and interact with members of staff or self-service devices. Currently, retailers need a member of staff to verify a purchaser’s age which is costly and time-consuming. Also, staff are not always great at estimating age and can be easily duped by fake or borrowed ID. Now we can put some rigour into ensuring that retailers are confident they are selling age-appropriate products to the right customer.

Until now, what barriers have prevented the use of Digital Age Assurance solutions by businesses? Strict interpretation of the UK licensing laws requires a customer to pro duce a recognized photo ID containing their date of birth, if challenged. The customer ID should contain either a hologram or ultraviolet mark, neither of which can be reproduced digitally. PASS audits and approves “Issuers” of cards which carry its logo. introduction of Digital Age Assurance? The UK Home Office wanted to understand the efficacy of digital age assurance technologies and whether they introduced improved age controls preventing children from coming to harm. The Home Office initiated a Sandbox trial and invited technology com panies and retailers (“Acceptors”) to trial their technology in a live customer environment for 5 months with the active support of local Trading Standards, Licensing Authorities and Policing. Independent research produced from these trials demonstrated that digital age assurance technology introduced more effective controls and improved regulatory compliance when enforcing age checks and retailers and customers welcomed the speed, convenience and simplicity of the technology. Put simply, it proved that the technology is more effective than current manual age checks. Can you explain the role of the UK Government concerning the

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