Nevada AB360 Amendment Covering Online Tobacco Sales
Update: When Nevada AB360 became law, its name was changed to Nevada NRS 370.
Learn more about all of Nevada’s state laws related to ID scanning >>
This morning the Nevada legislature released an amendment to the AB360 bill which will require ID scanning for tobacco sales in the state of Nevada.
The Legalese
Perform an age verification through an independent, third-party age verification service that compares information available from public records to the personal information entered by the person during the ordering process that establishes that the person is over the age of 18 years and use a method of mail, shipping or delivery that requires the signature of a person over the age of 18 years before the items are released to the purchaser, unless the person:
(1) Requires the customer to:
(I) Create an online profile or account with personal information, including, without limitation, a name, address, social security number and a valid phone number, that is verified through publicly available records; or
(II) Upload a copy of a government-issued identification card that includes a photograph of the customer; and sends the package containing the items to the name and address of the customer who ordered the items.
What AB360 means for online sales
This amendment to AB360 loops in online sales into the restrictive measures for tobacco purchase. Now, not only will liquor stores, grocery stores, and vape shops be required to comply with ID scanning laws, any business that sells tobacco digitally will be forced to comply as well. eCigarettes in particular are often sold online, and internet tobacco sales are legal broadly across the US.
Businesses that sell tobacco online, or perform tobacco delivery, will need to verify age in one of two ways:
- Upload the front and back of the individual’s government-issued ID or drivers license and perform an authenticity check and age verification.
- A check against a third party database such as the state DMV, before the transaction. This is challenging as the Nevada DMV API availability for use by private businesses remains under development. Other third party databases can be used to verify age, but may present a challenge to business and/or slow down the purchase process.
Mobile ID validation is the ideal solution for quickly validating identity before tobacco purchase. Small retailers can trigger mobile ID validation via SMS, while larger retailers will likely want to integrate validation more deeply into their existing workflows. This type of solution quickly parses the information in the ID’s 2D barcode, compares it to the front of the ID, and performs face matching via selfie. It provides an extremely high level of confidence in the purchase’s age, and identity.
Can you order cigarettes with apps like DoorDash, UberEats, etc?
According the legislation, all online tobacco purchases in Nevada will be subject to these rules. Major vendors such as Amazon, DoorDash, and UberEats will need to rapidly overhaul their systems to remain compliant while continuing to deliver tobacco products. With the highly publicized banning of Juul due to their marketing to minors the government has shown a strong will to crack down on underage sales of products that represent a public health risk.
Chicago and New York City are among two major municipalities to bring forth lawsuits against digital purveyors of tobacco products, alleging that the retailers did not perform due diligence in verifying the age of the purchaser.
3 According to the suit, “[a]t no time before or during the
Public Health Law Center
purchase or delivery of the tobacco products or accessories did Defendants request a valid
form of government identification or any other verification of Doe’s age,”34 and “at no time
before or after the delivery of the tobacco products and accessories did Defendants call or
email Doe to get more identifying information or confirm that Doe was 21 years old or older.”35
According to Chicago’s then Corporation Counsel, Edward Siskel: “Manufacturers and sellers
of e-cigarettes were put on notice that Chicago is willing to take legal action to prevent them
from peddling their products to Chicago youth, and this second lawsuit demonstrates our
commitment to protecting youth and policing online retailers.”
Some major retailers like Walmart have elected to limit online sales of tobacco products entirely. And payment processor PayPal has also prohibited use of their platform for purchase of tobacco products.
How to comply with AB360
We outline proposed solutions for brick and mortar compliance in our earlier blog post. However, contact our team today at hello@idscan.net for a demo of our Mobile ID Validation solution.
