Trade associations gas stations back at the table after outcry over ID requirement for tobacco sales

The industry associations Bovag, Drive and Nove will meet on Monday. The topic is the uproar that has arisen among both pump owners and consumers about the 100% age verification when buying smokes.

The 100% age verification for tobacco sales, effective from 1 October, has caused uproar among both consumers and pump holders. Various media featured well-known and unknown Dutch people who, mainly because of their age of well over eighteen, did not understand anything about the identification requirement. Petrol station owners, too, do not all appear to be unreservedly positive about the self-imposed measure, which in some cases is said to have angered customers.

The trade associations also seem to interpret the ID requirement differently for everyone themselves. Spokesman Paul de Waal of Bovag, which accounts for several hundred petrol stations, responded firmly on behalf of Bovag earlier this week: “Everyone who wants to buy cigarettes must show their ID. It does not matter what age you are. Equal opportunity.” The 100% duty had been introduced precisely to avoid discussion or even aggression. “It is about solidarity towards our employees. With the current 100 per cent age verification, hassle is avoided.”

When in doubt

Andre Braakman of trade association Drive, which accounts for over 1,300 affiliated service stations, says that as far as he is concerned, people who are clearly over eighteen do not have to show ID. That did happen to 58-year-old BBB leader Caroline van der Plas, she wrote this week on X. She was not given cigarettes because she did not carry an ID (otherwise mandatory). “Only in case of doubt does 100 per cent control apply,” Braakman said. “The measure is meant to prevent aggression, but now it actually seems to incite aggression. We obviously don’t want that at all. As trade associations, we are on the same page, only in the communication there has been a lack of clarity. That is why we are going to meet again with Bovag and Drive on Monday.”

Not all

There is also no uniformity among petrol stations on the interpretation of the measure. Among others, Avia Weghorst, with some 135 filling stations in the north and east of the Netherlands, goes against the policy. “Of course we ask for proof of identity if we have doubts about whether someone is 18 years old,” spokesperson Leonie Pater-Kamp told Tubantia. “But we are not going to do this to everyone.” Avia is not opposed to a general age check, but the company believes this obligation can only come from the government. “We are not going to make that choice ourselves. If it becomes mandatory with a clear campaign, it will create more understanding among customers,” Pater-Kamp told Tubantia.

Rob Leus, pump owner in Almelo and member of industry association Drive, agrees. “We want to be loyal, but this is going too far. I’m not going to ask an 80-year-old woman with a rollator to show her ID for a packet of cigarettes, am I?”

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