Web retailing
Internet retailers are failing to ensure young people cannot buy age-restricted goods.
Charities and children’s groups have called for legislation to force retailers to do more to protect children after a survey found blatant breaches of safeguards.
Trading standards officers from Greenwich Council conducted a survey on a number of web sites to test their age checking systems. They found that thorough checks were not being made when a 16-year-old in a supervised test bought knives, drink, and 18-rated DVDs and games from twelve separate online retailers.
A private members bill currently going through the House of Lords is calling for it to be mandatory for web retailers to adopt age verification systems.
