Youth Access Prevention
Preventing under-age access to cigarettes
Only adults, who have made an informed choice with regard to the health messages on the risks associated with smoking, should smoke. Children should not smoke and should be strongly discouraged from doing so. Since 1st October 2007 it has been illegal in England, Scotland and Wales to sell tobacco products to someone under 18 - the previous age restriction of 16 had been in place since 1908. Northern Ireland followed the rest of the United Kingdom in raising its age to 18 on 1 September 2008.
The TMA is committed to its Youth Access Prevention campaign and has supported many campaigns over the years aimed at preventing children from buying cigarettes (e.g. No ID No Sale, CitizenCard, Greenfinch and No Excuses). We welcome opportunities to work in partnership with Government, other agencies, parents and teachers to prevent under-age smoking.
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The TMA believes it is up to the Government to decide what legal age tobacco should be sold at and this should be backed up by a nationally recognised proof-of-age scheme, such as CitizenCard, to assist the retailer in preventing sales to children. The key thing is for retailers to establish age at point-of-sale before they allow a purchase to be made. In this regard, we are committed to CitizenCard's proof-of-age scheme. |
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CitizenCard & No ID No Sale
CitizenCard is a national PASS-approved proof-of-age scheme set up in February 1999. It aims to prevent young people from purchasing cigarettes, alcohol and other age-restricted products while under the legal age. The scheme is part of the British Retail Consortium's PASS initiative and is endorsed by the Home Office and the Trading Standards Institute. Over 1.8 million CitizenCards have now been issued.
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The No ID No Sale (NINS) campaign was launched in January 2004 and has been very successful in raising awareness of CitizenCard and other forms of proof-of-age. Now in its third year, the scheme has achieved support from the Home Office, Department of Health, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Trading Standards Institute and the Association of Chief Police Officers. Display materials are in most corner shops and a culture of expectation has been created at point-of-sale for proof-of-age to be offered or produced on demand. The scheme enables retailers to work out someone’s age, spot fake ID and help them to record attempted purchases in a Refusals Register. It is now easier for them to refuse sales of age-restricted goods or services if proof-of-age is not offered by potential purchasers. A No ID No Sale pack can be obtained from their website (www.noidnosale.com) or by calling 0870 240 1221. |
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Advertising
Where advertising of products is still allowed, it is the policy of our members to direct their advertising only at adults who have chosen to smoke. They do not direct their advertising at, or design it to be appealing to, anyone under 18 years old. They comply with a wide range of rigorous regulations designed to prevent children from being exposed to tobacco advertising.
Independent studies of the reasons why young people start to smoke have found no single explanation. These studies have found that age, gender, families, peer pressure and stress are the major factors in starting smoking. Advertising is not generally cited as amongst the key factors. A Utrecht University study in 1998 said that children are more influenced by parents and peers than by the mass media.
Restriction of access to vending machines
The TMA believes that access to cigarette vending machines should be strictly controlled to prevent sales to children. The TMA does not, however, support the prohibition of vending machines, which would prevent legitimate access by adult smokers. Vending operators and manufacturers should however identify and utilize systems that enable the purchase of tobacco products by adults only, or else ensure that machines are installed in locations which enable adult supervision.
Eliminating uncontrolled sales of cheap and illegally imported cigarettes would help reduce availability to under-age purchasers.
Prohibition of sweets and toys resembling a type of tobacco product
The TMA believes children should not smoke and should be discouraged from doing so. It would therefore support measures to prohibit companies from producing sweets or toys that resemble a tobacco product and could encourage children to think it is all right for them to smoke.
September 2008