British American Tobacco Introduces Facial Age Verification in Italy, Piloted Across 119 Stores

British American Tobacco (BAT) Italy has partnered with digital identity verification company Yoti to pilot a facial age estimation system across 119 pop-up stores nationwide. The initiative is designed to strengthen age-verification controls for the sale of tobacco and nicotine products and to prevent underage purchases, complementing traditional ID checks.

Key Highlights

• BAT Italy partners with Yoti to launch a facial age verification pilot.
• The pilot covers 119 pop-up stores across Italy.
• The system outputs only an “adult / not adult” result and does not store facial images or identify individuals.
• The technology was previously tested in Croatia, achieving an age-estimation accuracy rate of 99%.

2Firsts, December 25, 2025 — According to Comunicati-Stampa, British American Tobacco Italia S.p.A. (BAT Italy) announced a collaboration with digital identity verification technology company Yoti to deploy a facial-scanning-based age verification system aimed at reinforcing underage sales prevention for tobacco and nicotine products.

The pilot is currently being tested across 119 pop-up stores throughout Italy. The core of the technology involves scanning a customer’s facial features to determine whether they have reached the legal purchasing age (≥18). Importantly, the system does not store facial images nor identify individuals; it provides only a binary result indicating whether the customer is an adult (yes/no), meeting stringent data protection and privacy requirements.

Reports indicate that the project has previously undergone pilot testing in locations such as Croatia, where the technology achieved an age-estimation accuracy rate of 99%. In real-world applications, this has proven effective in reducing the risk of underage attempts to purchase regulated products.

BAT Italy stated that the initiative represents a concrete implementation of its responsible sales policy. By supplementing traditional ID verification procedures, the company aims to leverage modern technology to better protect minors from accessing tobacco and other nicotine-containing products, while also demonstrating a compliance-first approach aligned with evolving regulatory expectations.

Cover image source: Comunicati-Stampa