BAT Roll Out Yoti Facial Age Estimation To Combat Underage

British American Tobacco / BAT official website news.
BAT and and The Channel Islands Co-operative Society Limited (Channel Islands Coop) and Yoti launch facial age estimation pilot in 10 Coop stores in Jersey, UK, to assist stores in implementing verification processes such as Challenge 25 and reduce exposure of minors to tobacco and nicotine products. Yoti, a leading provider of digital identity solutions.

It is reported that customers can estimate their age by scanning the QR code at the checkout and completing facial recognition; The system only returns a yes/no result on whether the minimum purchase age threshold (20 years old in this pilot) has been reached, and the captured images are immediately deleted without storing personal identification information.For those who have not reached the threshold or are recommended for review by the system, the store will conduct manual ID checks according to the process.

Danni Tower, the head of scientific and regulatory affairs at BAT Group, stated that preventing minors from accessing is still the company’s top priority, and early results show that Yoti’s solution has the potential to block smoke-free products such as nicotine pouches.
Coop CEO Mark Cox said that this move not only helps fulfill social responsibility, but also reduces the verification pressure on frontline colleagues in sensitive situations and improves checkout fluency.

BAT claims to have adopted Yoti in over 600 stores in Europe (including self operated stores in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia), with plans to expand to 1000 stores within the year; Poland, Italy, Serbia are currently implementing joint projects with traditional retail partners such as Greece and Hungary; And pilot this technology in face-to-face roadshows/trade events in Poland and other places.

Starting from August 2023, BAT will also deploy Yoti’s age/identity verification scheme on self-service vending machines, including those in the UK.
BAT announces its commitment to responsible electronic atomization products and the global launch progress of the new generation vape device Vuse Ultra: Vuse Ultra is equipped with Device AutoLock in some regions ™， It can automatically lock the device when it is idle, preventing accidental contact and unauthorized use. At present, Vuse Ultra has been launched in Canada, Germany, the UK, and other regions, and will further expand to other areas by 2025.