A Practical Guide to Test Purchasing in Scotland

Annex

Videos

12, 15, 18

Video Recordings Act 1984 - It is an offence to supply to a person who has not attained the age specified in the rating certificate.

Cigarettes

18

Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 as amended - It is an offence to sell any tobacco or cigarette papers to a person under the age of 18. This Act also covers the sale of cigarettes from vending machines.

Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 as amended - It is an offence to fail to display the statutory notice stating 'IT IS ILLEGAL TO SELL TOBACCO PRODUCTS TO ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18' at premiseswhere cigarettes are sold by retail.

National Lottery

16

National Lottery etc Act 1993 - National Lottery Regulations 1994 - It is an offence for a National Lottery ticket to be sold by or to a person who has not attained the age of 16.

Offensive Weapons

18

Criminal Justice Act 1988 (as amended by the Offensive Weapons Act 1996 and the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006) - It is an offence to sell knives, razor blades and other bladed articles to any person under the age of 18. (Exemptions include folding pocketknives if the cutting edge is less than 7.62 centimetres long and razor blades that are permanently enclosed in a cartridge or housing). It is not an offence to sell a knife or a knife blade to someone if a) the person is over 16 and b) the knife or blade is for domestic use.

Fireworks

16

Explosives Act 1875 - It is an offence to sell gunpowder to any person 'apparently' under 16. Caps, cracker snaps, novelty matches, party poppers, serpents and throwdowns - are specifically excluded from the definition in the 1997 Regulations BUT may not automatically qualify under the 1875 Act. Note also that the restriction is still to those 'apparently' under 16.

18

Consumer Protection Act 1987 Fireworks (Safety) Regulations 1997 - It is an offence to supply any firework to any person under the age of 18.

Spray Paints

16

Section 122 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 introduced a ban on the sale of spray paint to under 16s in Scotland.

Petroleum

16

Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 - It is an offence to sell or dispense petrol to a person under the age of 16.

Cigarette Lighter Refills

18

Consumer Protection Act 1987 Cigarette Lighter Refill (Safety) Regulations 1999 - It is an offence to supply a cigarette lighter refill canister containing butane or a substance with butane as a constituent part to any person under the age of 18

Alcohol

18

Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 - It is an offence to sell intoxicating liquor to a person under the age of 18. Also it is an offence to buy alcohol whilst under 18, therefore for test purchasing purposes it is only legal to seek the assistance of children for this purpose if they are authorised to do so under section 105 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 otherwise the test purchasers will themselves be committing an offence.

Crossbows

18

Crossbows Act 1987; It is an offence for a person to sell, or let or hire a crossbow or part of a crossbow to a person under 18. (Or for a person under 18 to buy a crossbow) therefore for test purchasing purposes it is illegal for authorities to seek the assistance of children for this purpose as the test purchasers will themselves be committing an offence. (The age restriction of crossbows changed from age 17 to 18 as of Autumn 2007).

Air Weapons

18

Custodial Sentences and Weapons Act 2007. It is an offence for a person to sell, or let or hire an air weapon to a person under the age of 18. The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 raised the age for owning an air weapon from 17 to 18 years. The provisions came into force from 1 October 2007.