The Danish government has a new plan to help people under 18 use less nicotine, tobacco, and alcohol. To better protect the young generation, the country is taking the first steps to address this issue. This plan includes 30 specific actions and involves nearly DKK 500 million in funding to address these concerns.
The Need for MitID Age Verification
Recent studies have shown an increase in the use of nicotine products among Danish youth. In 2020, 8.7% of 15-17-year-olds used smokeless nicotine products. By 2022, this number had increased to 12%. Similarly, for 18-24-year-olds, the use rose from 11.9% to 17.4%.
Danish youth also consume more alcohol than their European peers and start drinking at a younger age. Despite laws against selling these products to minors, it is still too easy for them to get their hands on them.
Key Actions in the Prevention Plan
The new plan introduces a range of measures to tackle these issues:
Stronger Controls: Authorities will have more power to monitor and regulate the sale of tobacco, nicotine, and alcohol products. The government will raise taxes on nicotine products and ban sweet flavors that attract children.
- Stricter Sales Rules: Sellers can only offer regular beer and low-alcohol drinks to 16-17-year-olds. Stronger alcoholic beverages will not be available to this age group.
- Digital Age Verification: The plan will introduce digital systems to check buyers' ages, ensuring minors cannot buy restricted products.
- Public Awareness Campaigns: The government will provide funds to teach young people about the dangers of nicotine and alcohol.
- Healthy Communities: The government will fund the creation of youth communities where alcohol is not the main focus.
The Latest day for implementation
Minors have effortless relatively easy access to tobacco, nicotine, and alcohol. Illegal e-cigarettes, especially puff bars, are also widely available and harmful. To address this, the government introduced a prevention plan in November 2023 with 30 initiatives, supported by the Folketing.
Minister of the Interior and Health, Sophie Løhde, says:
"It's too easy for children and young people to get puff bars, which is very concerning. These products often have high levels of nicotine, which is addictive and harmful. We are giving authorities more power to stop illegal nicotine products. We're also improving age checks in stores and online to prevent sales to minors."
The bill has three main points:
- Ban the import, purchase, and possession of e-cigarettes with illegal sweet flavours and high nicotine content.
- Allow the National Security Agency to seize illegal tobacco and nicotine products without police involvement.
- Enhance age verification by involving young buyers and utilizing trustworthy online age verification methods like MitID. This can be particularly useful for buying tobacco, nicotine, and alcohol.
The new measures will start on July 1, 2024. The online age verification regulation will start on October 1, 2024. Merchants have the opportunity to update their e-commerce sites until then.
Denmark will test this process for two years. After that, they will decide if the program should continue, become permanent, or stop.
New Age Verification Requirements for Businesses
Businesses must now implement age verification using either MitID or physical ID card scanning to comply with the law. Consumers must verify their age at the point of purchase.
Before June 4th, sellers only needed customers to check a box to confirm their age when buying nicotine or alcohol online.
Therefore, simply checking a box to confirm you are 18 will no longer be sufficient. The consumer will have to use MitID age verification. To integrate MitID into your process you will have to reach out to a MitID broker.
Using MitID and ZignSec for Age Verification
This plan ensures that retailers sell age-restricted products only to those who are old enough. Users can use MitID, Denmark's national digital ID system, alongside ZignSec, a digital identity verification company, to achieve this.
How It Works
- Integration: Retail and online sales systems can integrate MitID to verify the age of customers instantly.
- Security: MitID provides a secure way to check identities, making it harder for minors to use fake IDs.
- Efficiency: Businesses can quickly and easily verify ages, complying with regulations without slowing down sales.
- Wide Use: MitID enables enforcement of the prevention plan everywhere in physical stores and online.
- CPR Match: Confirm if the MitID matches the CPR number entered by the user after logging in with MitID.
Utilise ID Verification to Verify Age Online
A second option for ID verification involves offering both MitID and physical ID verification. This method allows users to easily submit their ID card, or scan their passport. They can also complete a liveness verification at checkout or when creating an account. While this method is less common in Denmark, it is a viable option for those who do not have MitID.
The Way Forward
Denmark's new prevention plan is a major step toward protecting young people from the dangers of nicotine and alcohol. The plan uses MitID to make sure young people are safe and healthy by enforcing age restrictions.
To learn more about how ZignSec can help with age verification using MitID or ID card scanning, please contact us.