Age policy

Contents

What is on this page

1. 01Age
2. 02United Kingdom residency and delivery address
3. 03What the acknowledgement is, and what it is not
4. 04Not on behalf of a minor, and no onward supply to one
5. 05A false declaration
6. 06How the acknowledgement is recorded

1. 01Age

   This site is for people aged 18 or over. On a first visit a notice states that position and asks the visitor to confirm they have read it and meet it.

   Supply to a person under 18 is refused as a matter of policy. That refusal does not depend on anything the site is able to check — it is a position, and clause 3 explains why the distinction is worth stating rather than glossing.

2. 02United Kingdom residency and delivery address

   Orders are accepted from buyers resident in the United Kingdom — England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — and the billing and delivery addresses given must be valid United Kingdom addresses. Placing an order on behalf of a person under 18, or on behalf of somebody resident outside the United Kingdom, is not permitted.

3. 03What the acknowledgement is, and what it is not

   The first-visit notice is an acknowledgement. The visitor confirms they have read the research-use position, and enters a date of birth rather than ticking a box. It is recorded against the browser, and where an order is later placed a copy of the exact wording accepted, and a hash of it, is stored with that order.

   The date is checked on our server, not in the browser, and entry is refused if it does not clear the age this site is for. The date itself is used for that check and is not stored with any order. If it clears the check, this browser tab remembers it until the tab is closed, so checkout can fill it in for you; a date that does not clear the check is never kept. If the check cannot be carried out, entry is refused rather than allowed.

   It is still not an age verification, and the distinction matters. The date is the one the visitor typed. Nothing on this site checks it against any record, no document is inspected, and nobody checks age at the point of delivery. What the server checks is the arithmetic of the date given, not whether that date is true. So age is still stated by the buyer rather than established by anyone else — a typed date is a more deliberate statement than a tick, and nothing more than that.

   This is said plainly because the alternative — describing an acknowledgement as though it were a check — would misrepresent what protects a young person here, which is the buyer’s own declaration and nothing more.

4. 04Not on behalf of a minor, and no onward supply to one

   Materials supplied through this site must not knowingly be supplied or made available to any person under 18. The buyer is responsible for the safe storage of anything in their possession.

5. 05A false declaration

   A false statement as to age or residency may amount to a fraudulent misrepresentation under UK law, and may make the contract of sale voidable. Where that happens the order may be cancelled, and further orders from the same buyer may be declined.

   Where an order is cancelled under this clause, any amount already paid is refunded to you directly — arranged the same way payment itself is arranged, since no payment is taken on this website — less any return-postage cost we have already incurred.

6. 06How the acknowledgement is recorded

   Confirming the first-visit notice records the acceptance in the browser, together with the exact wording accepted and a hash of that wording. Where an order follows, that record is attached to the order so it is possible to say afterwards which wording was live at the time.

   The separate research-use agreement accepted at checkout is signed — a tick against the document and a signature drawn beside it — and constitutes an electronic signature within the meaning of section 7 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000. The first-visit age acknowledgement is not signed in that way; it is a confirmation, recorded as described above.

   Where this acknowledgement is attached to an order, it is kept for 6 years from the date of that order — the same period, and the same basis, as the order record itself (see the privacy notice).

See also: Research use only, Terms and Privacy.