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Korea: New Devices Prevent Minors From Purchasing Cigarettes from Vending Machines [07/29-2]
Excerpts from: New Devices Prevent Minors From Purchasing Cigarettes
By
Kim Rahn
Korea Times [07/28/04]
Those wanting to buy cigarettes from vending machines will be required to possess identification cards that can prove their ages from Thursday, as adult recognition devices are being installed at the machines to prevent minors from purchasing cigarettes.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Wednesday said that it will today implement a revised health promotion law making it compulsory to attach a device to cigarette vending machines that can recognize buyers¡¯ ages from their registration cards or credit cards.
``It is prohibited by law to sell cigarettes to minors aged under 19. However, minors have had easy access to cigarettes as they could buy cigarettes from vending machines," a ministry official said.
To prevent such purchases, the authorities revised the health laws last year to oblige cigarette sellers to install adult recognition devices at their vending machines. Many countries such as Germany and Switzerland have adopted the measures.
Cigarette sellers through vending machines will be obliged to install the devices recognizing buyers ages through either registration cards or credit cards.
The device recognizes buyers¡¯ ages by reading registration numbers on the cards, detecting about 90 percent of forged cards. The other device using credit cards is unlikely to be adopted by cigarette sellers, as they are required to pay some money for access to the financial online network.
Those selling cigarettes through vending machines without attaching the devices will be subject to 2 million won fines.
There are about 2,700 cigarette vending machines nationwide, but the number has decreased due to tightening measures on smoking and anti-smoking campaigns.
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