Tennessee ID Scanning Laws & Regulations
Can you scan an ID in Tennessee?
Tennessee law does not regulate a business’s practice of scanning IDs or retaining information obtained from a scan.
There are some instances in which merchants are required to record information related to identity, such as scrap metal recycling. ID scanning can improve the ease and accuracy of record keeping in these scenarios.
Overview of Tennessee ID Scanning Laws
In the absence of any statute governing issues associated with a business’s practice of scanning IDs, a business is likely allowed to scan IDs and to retain information obtained from a scan, subject to applicable privacy laws.
Does Tennessee offer affirmative defense for ID scanning?
No.
Tennessee Code. Title 57 – Intoxicating Liquors. Chapter 5. 57-5-301 – Sales to minors or intoxicated persons
a) (1) A permit holder engaging in the business regulated hereunder or any employee thereof shall not make or permit to be made any sales to minors or persons visibly intoxicated. Prior to making a sale of beer for off-premise consumption, the adult consumer must present to the permit holder, or any employee of the permit holder, a valid, government-issued document, such as a drivers license, or other form of identification deemed acceptable to the permit holder, that includes the photograph and birth date of the adult consumer attempting to make a beer purchase. Persons exempt under state law from the requirement of having a photo identification shall present identification that is acceptable to the permit holder. The permit holder or employee shall make a determination from the information presented whether the purchaser is an adult. In addition to the prohibition of making a sale to a minor, no sale of beer for off-premises consumption shall be made to a person who does not present such a document or other form of identification to the permit holder or any employee of the permit holder; however, it is an exception to any criminal punishment or adverse administrative action, including license suspension or revocation, as provided for a violation of this section if the sale was made to a person who is or reasonably appears to be over fifty (50) years of age and who failed to present an acceptable form of identification.
(3) Any person under twenty-one (21) years of age who knowingly makes a false statement or exhibits false identification to the effect that the person is twenty-one (21) years of age or older to any person engaged in the sale of alcoholic beverages licensed hereunder for the purpose of purchasing or obtaining the same is guilty of a misdemeanor. In addition to any criminal penalty established by this subdivision (d)(3), a court in which a person younger than twenty-one (21) years of age but eighteen (18) years of age or older is convicted under this subdivision (d)(3) of a second or subsequent offense shall prepare and send to the department of safety, driver control division, within five (5) working days of the conviction, an order of denial of driving privileges for the offender for a period not to exceed one (1) year. The offender may apply to the court for a restricted driver license. The judge shall order the issuance of a restricted motor vehicle operator’s license, in accordance with the provisions of § 55-50-502. The court and the department shall follow the same procedures and utilize the same costs for a person younger than twenty-one (21) years of age but eighteen (18) years of age or older as provided in title 55, chapter 10, part 7, for offenders younger than eighteen (18) years of age but thirteen (13) years of age or older.
Tennessee Code 39-17-1505. Prohibited tobacco purchases or possession by minors Penalties.
(a) It is unlawful for a person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age to possess a tobacco product, to purchase or accept receipt of a tobacco product, or to present or offer to any person any purported proof of age which is false, fraudulent, or not actually that person’s own for the purpose of purchasing or receiving any tobacco product.
Tennessee Code Title 62 – Professions, Businesses and Trades. Chapter 9 – Scrap Metal Dealers
Except as provided in subdivision (b)(2), no scrap metal dealer may purchase or otherwise acquire scrap metal from a person unless that person presents a state or federally issued photo identification card that appears valid on its face to the dealer and provides a thumbprint as provided in § 62-9-104.
If a valid state or federally issued photo identification card is presented, the scrap metal dealer shall record the name, sex, height, date of birth, residence address and the photo identification card number of the person selling the scrap metal, photocopy the photo identification card presented and maintain this information as part of the transaction record. The scrap metal dealer shall also record the license plate number and make and model of the motor vehicle the seller is driving. If the vehicle is a commercial vehicle, the buyer shall record the name of the business owning or leasing the vehicle.
If the person presenting the scrap metal for sale does not have a state or federally issued photo identification card, the dealer shall require the seller to present some form of state or federally issued identification, photograph the person and record the information contained on the identification card prior to the transaction being made. Even if a photograph of the seller is taken, the dealer is prohibited from making the transaction if the seller does not have, or refuses to present, the required identification.
