Greece introduces digital age verification system for tobacco and alcohol sales

Greece has introduced a new digital application to verify the age of customers when purchasing tobacco products and alcohol, as part of a broader government effort to enforce a law prohibiting the sale of both products to minors, which was passed last summer. This was reported by Euronews.

The system, presented by Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis alongside the ministers of civil protection and digital governance, is designed to close a long-standing loophole that allowed retailers to claim ignorance when caught selling to minors.

“What we are doing today removes that excuse,” Georgiadis stated during the presentation. “It facilitates control, makes our relationships clearer, and simplifies the imposition of fines.”

Greece is presenting the introduction of the system as the first of its kind in Europe. Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou stated that the age verification method follows the technical approach adopted by the European Union for age verification on internet platforms and social networks—making it the first real-world application on the continent through Greece’s existing digital wallet infrastructure.

Since the law came into force on July 7, 2025, authorities have carried out approximately 82,000 inspections—already more than half of the 133,000 inspections conducted throughout the entirety of 2024.

Police have reported 313 arrests, with 67% related to alcohol violations. An additional 150 administrative fines were imposed, most of which were also alcohol-related, and 121 reports were filed through a new mechanism requiring mandatory police notification for private events involving minors.

The Minister of Civil Protection stated that the legislative framework also mandates retailers to verify the age of buyers and requires private events attended by minors to be reported.