The e-cigarette community has been riddled with legal change this year as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tightens up enforcement of its regulations on the sale of vape products. While there are many issues at hand—including how, where, and what kinds of vape products are allowed to be offered for sale—the big problem of underage vaping highlights a big problem with age verification.

On Nov. 15th, the FDA published its annual National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), which shows a 78% spike in current e-cigarette use among high school students and a 48% increase among middle school students from 2017 to 2018. The number of middle and high school students using e-cigarettes is now 3.6 million—1.5 million more than last year. Because of this “epidemic,” the FDA is multiplying its efforts to block youth access to vape products.

With exception to the increasing sophistication of fake IDs, age verification in physical stores is fairly straightforward. Stores must be equipped with the proper technology, such as photo ID scanners, to ensure the legitimacy of IDs. With the appropriate equipment and employee training, underage sales in store are, for the most part, avoidable. But how do ecommerce businesses prevent them?

Until recently, online age gates were the norm. An age gate is a window that pops up before a person is allowed to enter a website. All it took to buy something off that website was the right answer to something like, “Are you of legal age to enter?” or “Please enter your date of birth.” Age gates notify people of the age requirement for buying vape products, but trusting the customer to self-certify that they are of legal age is not a reliable way to comply with age regulations.

As FDA guidance escalates, online businesses are implementing new strategies to keep their products limited to adults. Age verification technology that independently verifies a buyer’s age before they can place an order is becoming the new standard.

We’re not just saying this to promote AgeChecker.net; there are several major players in the online age verification space, such as Veratad and BlueCheck, which are designed to protect regulated businesses from underage sales. We are simply stressing the importance of independent age verification software. With it, your e-cig business can:

• Avoid warning letters, fines, and shutdowns by the FDA
• Preserve the integrity of your products as a healthier alternative to cigarettes for adult smokers, rather than a health threat to our nation’s youth
• Ensure the viability and continued growth of your industry in the future
• Give your business more credibility as the FDA’s efforts to reduce underage vaping seep further into the public eye

The FDA age regulation states that a photo ID is required to buy e-cigarette/vape products, whether in store or online. The minimum age is 18, although some individual states have raised it to 19 or 21. Due to heavy infringement, we expect that further clarification will be provided by the FDA soon, detailing specific standards for complying with age regulations online. AgeChecker.Net is prepared to adapt to any specifications released by the FDA.

The FDA has gone so far as to propose a ban of flavored e-cigarettes they deem too youth-oriented to be offered for sale in gas stations and convenience stores, limiting them to vape shops and ecommerce stores where all entry and sales are age-regulated. Many large vape companies have already taken their flavored products off retailers’ shelves, instead offering them online with strong age verification in place. The proposed ban implies that the FDA trusts advanced online age verification more than face-to-face verification in brick-and-mortar outlets that also sell non-restricted products. So if you haven’t already installed age verification software on your website, now is the time.

For more information about the current FDA regulations for the sale of nicotine products, click here.

Age verification is a hot topic in the vape community right now because it’s currently under more investigation than usual by its governing body, but what about other regulated industries? Just because they’re not under the lens today doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t prepare for future scrutiny. More importantly, as a business owner, it should already be a priority to funnel regulated products to target audiences (adults), while maintaining a strong barrier for minors.

Do your part as a business owner to prevent youth use of your regulated products and install age verification software today.