Online age verification

Neither cigarettes nor alcohol may be sold to young people. In case of doubt, the cashier must show his ID at serviced cash registers. Unserviced systems, e.g. in cigarette vending machines, 24/7 kiosks or self-service checkouts in supermarkets, can now automatically check the authorization request. This does not ask the customer's age, but only checks whether he is older than 16 or 18 years.

Until now, verification was only possible with the help of money card technology, which has now been discontinued: a so-called SAM card with a banking certificate could directly read and verify the age of the cardholder in a cash card terminal. The SAM cards were only valid for 2 years and the replacement caused immense costs for operators. The first installations as part of the market launch project are expected in cigarette vending machines this summer. LAVEGO AG is one of the two network operators that will participate.

You can find out more about this topic here: https://www.girocard.eu/news-media/newsroom/kreditwirtschaft-pilotiert-altersverifikation/‍