Greece now applies the age certification system favoured by the European Union
Greece has unveiled a new digital application system to verify the age of customers buying tobacco and alcohol, as part of a broader government push to enforce a law banning sales of both products to minors that passed last summer.
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The system, presented by Health Minister Adonis Georgiades alongside the Ministers of Citizen Protection and Digital Governance, is designed to close a longstanding loophole that allowed sellers to claim ignorance when caught selling to underage customers.
"What we are doing today removes that excuse," Georgiades said at the presentation. "It makes it easier to control, clearer the relationship between us, and easier to impose a fine."
Greece is billing the rollout as a first for Europe. Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said the age verification method mirrors the technical approach the European Union has adopted for age checks on internet platforms and social media — making this its first real-world implementation on the continent, through Greece's existing digital wallet infrastructure.
Since the law took effect on July 7, 2025, authorities have conducted around 82,000 checks — already more than half the 133,000 carried out throughout all of 2024.
Police recorded 313 arrests, with 67 percent tied to alcohol-related offences. A further 150 administrative fines were issued, most of them also alcohol-related, and 121 reports were filed under a new mechanism requiring mandatory notification to police of private events involving minors.
The Minister of Citizen Protection said the legislative framework also mandates that sellers verify buyers' ages and that private events attended by minors be reported to authorities — measures intended to give enforcement agencies broader tools to act.
