One of France’s largest online vape retailers has introduced compulsory selfie-based age checks for new customers, as the industry seeks to show internet sales can be kept out of minors’ hands without a blanket ban.
Le Petit Vapoteur has required every new customer to prove they are over 18 since spring 2026. The system, supplied by digital identity company Yoti, begins with a live selfie used to estimate the buyer’s age.
Where the result is uncertain, the customer is asked to scan an official identity document and take another selfie so their face can be matched with the photograph. The retailer receives only a confirmation that the customer is an adult or minor, rather than their identity document or personal information.
French vaping trade association Fivape said the retailer was processing several hundred checks each day and had reported no noticeable slowdown in its business. It did not publish data showing how many attempted purchases had been rejected or how many involved minors.
Industry calls for common age standard
Fivape wants the system to become a model for online vape retailers across France, without requiring businesses to use a particular technology company.
“In a channel that accounts for nearly 30 percent of the market, specialised websites demonstrate that it is possible to reliably verify that buyers are of legal age, thanks to identity verification technologies tailored to e-commerce,” the association said.
Fivape has been examining online age-checking systems since 2025 and has assessed providers including Yoti and AgeVerif. Its preferred approach uses age estimation first, with an identity document required only when the selfie does not provide a sufficiently clear result.
Yoti says selfies used for facial age estimation are deleted as soon as a result is produced and are not passed to the retailer. It describes the process as age estimation rather than facial recognition because it does not attempt to identify the individual or compare their face against a stored database.
Under French law, vaping products cannot be sold or given to anyone under 18. Sellers are required to ask customers to provide proof that they are adults, whether the transaction takes place in a physical shop or through another retail channel.
Online ban dropped from budget
The rollout follows a political fight over the future of online vape sales in France.
Article 23 of the country’s draft 2026 finance bill proposed bringing vaping products into a new tax and retail framework. The original plan included a ban on distance sales to individual consumers, prompting opposition from vape businesses and amendments seeking to remove the restriction.
The measure was ultimately left out of the 2026 budget, meaning online vape sales remain legal. However, Fivape is seeking formal age-checking standards to counter any renewed attempt to prohibit the channel.
“In Fivape’s view, now that reliable digital age verification tools exist, the debate should no longer pit online sales against a ban, but rather focus on establishing a standard level of age verification required of all sellers to effectively prevent minors from accessing these products,” the association said.
Jean Moiroud, president of Fivape, said: “Banning online sales would not eliminate demand; it would simply shift it to unregulated channels.”
France’s data protection regulator, the CNIL, has previously warned that some online age checks can be intrusive or open to circumvention.
Its general guidance recommends using independently assessed third-party providers and giving websites proof that a customer meets an age threshold without revealing their identity. The CNIL has not assessed the Le Petit Vapoteur rollout specifically.
Fivape said it would now provide members with practical guidance to help more specialist retailers adopt stronger checks.
