Age restricted sales
Who is affected?
There are laws that restrict the sale of certain products and services to people of a certain age.
Minimum legal age – All of the laws that deal with age–restricted products and services state the minimum age of young people that can legally buy that product
Top tips
- Different minimum ages apply depending on the type of product you are selling. You and your staff must be aware of the minimum age required and the table below should assist with this.
- Make sure you understand your responsibilities in relation to the products you want to sell and the consequences of an underage sale.
- Make sure you set up effective systems within your business to prevent you or your staff selling an age-restricted product to a person under the relevant age.
- Ensure all of your staff are fully trained in relation to your systems including till prompts and maintaining a refusals register.
- Ensure you and your staff carry out checks to verify young people’s age when purchasing age-restricted products.
Goods, age restriction
- Adult fireworks and sparklers (category F2 [outdoor use: confined areas] and category F3 [outdoor use: large open areas] fireworks), 18 and over
- Aerosol paints, 16 and over
- Alcohol, 18 and over
- Christmas crackers, 12 and over
- Crossbows, 18 and over
- Knives axes and blades, 18 and over
- Lighter refills containing butane, 18 and over
- Lottery tickets /Instant win scratch cards, 16 and over
- Nicotine inhaling products (Vape / E-cig liquids), 18 and over
- Party poppers category 1 fireworks, 16 and over
- Petrol, 16 and over
- Sunbeds, 18 and over
- Tobacco, 18 and over
- Video recordings and video games “U” and PG rated Rating 3 and 5 Other classification, Unrestricted, unrestricted as specified on the packaging, i.e. 12, 16, 18
What to do next
If you have any questions about age restricted sales or you’d like some guidance on where to begin, please either complete our contact us form or email [email protected].