Scandal in Salzburg: 14-year-old buys vodka on machines unhindered!

Scandal in Salzburg: 14-year-old buys vodka on machines unhindered!

In Salzburg, an incident caused a sensation when a 14-year-old was able to acquire vodka from a machine shop with her children's banker card. This raises important questions about the protection of minors, especially against the background that vending machine shops in urban regions are increasingly common and enable purchases by ATM card or cash for 24 hours. The adolescent affected is the daughter of the SPÖ member of the state parliament Karin Dollinger, who wants to draw attention to this critical vulnerability.

The operator of the shop explained that an identification reader was installed, but temporarily did not work due to a system update. The incident caused the city administration of Salzburg to carry out random checks, whereby it was found that no personal age control takes place. This makes access to alcoholic beverages significantly easier for minors. The legal Situation for the sale of alcohol and cigarettes in vending machine shops remains unclear, which could initiate a discussion about the need for improvements in youth protection. According to kosmo.at there is agreement between the state and the federal government that the technical review of a card alone is not sufficient to protect minors.

regulations for alcohol sale from machines

Another aspect concerns the general regulations for the sale of alcohol, especially from machines. In another case, a trader was prohibited from offering alcohol from a vending machine on a public road. The regulatory authority decided that the offer of alcoholic beverages in public violates the youth protection law (section 9 (3) sentence 1 JuschG). The court confirmed that the delivery of alcohol from machines is a significant risk to public security and ruled out a proposal by the trader to limit the sale to people over the age of 18. Further legal steps to restore the suspensive effect of the objection were also rejected, which underlines the strict regulations that apply to alcohol sale in public, according to [weka.de] (https://www.weka.de/ordungsamt-werbeamt/ alcohol-aus- automaten/).

According to the regulations of the Youth Protection Act, the needs of young people must be better taken into account. Young people under the age of 16 are not allowed to buy or consume alcohol, while people aged 16 and over are allowed to consume beer, wine or sparkling wine as long as they are not recognizable. However, it is still forbidden to acquire or consume high -proof drinks, including mixed drinks. The aim of these laws is to protect children and adolescents from the negative influences of alcohol consumption, such as [kenndein-limit.de] (https://www.kenn-dein-limit.de/ alcohol advisory service/informations-fuer-eltern/jugendschutz-gesetz- alcohol/)

The current incidents and the legal framework make it clear that the protection of minors in the context of alcohol sales in slot machines still require significant improvements. The discussion about adequate measures is therefore more current than ever.