THE Department of Finance (DOF) is backing a policy that mandates all online tobacco sellers to adopt stricter age verification systems to curb the access of minors from harmful tobacco products.
A statement issued by the DOF last Monday read that Finance department has concurred with a new resolution from the Inter-Agency Committee on Tobacco (IAC-Tobacco) requiring stricter age verification for online tobacco sales.
The IAC-Tobacco recently passed IAC-Tobacco Resolution 01 (series of 2025), which ensures that no person below 18 years old can view, access, purchase, or sell cigarettes or tobacco products online.
The resolution mandates all online business operators, including e-marketplaces, digital platforms and e-retailers to install or upgrade robust age verification systems to ensure full compliance with the law. The resolution also instructs e-marketplaces and digital platforms to exercise due diligence oveer online merchants and implement necessary measures to ensure compliance with the law.
Online marketplaces and digital platforms are given 90 days from publication of the resolution to submit proof of compliance.
‘Through this resolution, we will be able to strictly control the sale and distribution of tobacco products. The DOF is always ready to help ensure the proper management of these products, especially in protecting our youth,’ Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto was quoted in the statement as saying.
The DOF is a member of the IAC-Tobacco and helps oversee the implementation of Republic Act 9211 (Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003).
According to the law, the sale and distribution of tobacco products to minors are prohibited.
It further states that it shall not be an excuse for the seller or distributor to be unaware of the minor’s real age. Neither shall it be a defense that they had any reason to believe that the product was for the consumption of the minor to whom it was sold.
The law also instructs retailers to verify the buyer’s age by means of any valid form of photographic identification containing the date of birth of the bearer.