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Recently, the report Remote Alcohol Sales was presented to the Dutch House of Representatives. The study was a follow-up to research conducted in 2020. In both studies, Dialogic was a subcontractor of Ecorys. Our part involved analysing around 100 websites selling alcohol, including coding whether and how the websites verify the age of their customers. Additionally, we looked into the accepted payment methods, delivery costs and times, and the general range of drinks offered by these websites. The entire research also included a survey to investigate how often Dutch nationals, especially young people/minors, order alcohol from Dutch and foreign websites and how frequently their age was verified.
Since the previous measurement in 2020, it has become mandatory for customers to confirm their age through an 'active action'. This was reflected in the results: unlike in the baseline measurement, virtually all Dutch websites now have some form of active age verification. Unfortunately, this often still only involves ticking a box confirming you are 18+, with little actual verification taking place in practice. One of the key conclusions of the research is that the amended Alcohol Act has proven to be ineffective in reducing online alcohol purchases by minors. Suggested measures to address this include: requiring a more reliable age verification system (e.g. iDIN), conducting test purchases to check if stores also verify age at the door, and taking a more stringent approach to alcohol advertising. The chamber brief and report can be found here.
