Utrecht, 09-09-2020

The largest online store in the Netherlands, bol.com, suddenly stops selling alcoholic drinks. Their argument is that the legally obliged age check for alcohol cannot be sufficiently guaranteed.
Less than two years after the company started it, the web store bol.com has already stopped selling alcohol. Partner companies includes the greatest Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn and the Dutch chain of liquor shops Gall & Gall. In an email to the partner companies that sell (spirits) drinks via bol.com, the webshop states that it will immediately stop selling alcohol. Anyone looking for drinks on the bol.com site will now see: “Oops! Sorry, we can no longer find this page “.

No guarantee for delivering to young people

The reason given by the largest online sales platform in the Netherlands is that it fears that drinks will be delivered to customers under the age of eighteen. According to bol.com, delivery services and the drink sellers themselves cannot sufficiently guarantee that no alcoholic drinks are ordered by and delivered to young people under eighteen.

No confidence in new legal regulations

According to Wim van Dalen of the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy STAP , bol.com’s decision at this point comes as a big surprise. State Secretary Blokhuis of the Ministry of Health has just submitted a new alcohol law with the aim, among other things, to improve effective age verification in online ordering and delivery. Van Dalen: “It is clear that bol.com has no confidence in the proposals of State Secretary Blokhuis and probably even fears image damage”.
In the Netherlands, research is regularly conducted into the degree of compliance with the 18-year limit. The most recent national survey shows that online ordering and delivery compliance is dramatically low. The age limit is only properly observed in 2.2. % of the purchases via webshops.
Source: www.trouw.nl

 

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