<http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/textonly/vbparser.asp?path=http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk%2FACC%5FData%2Fnews+item%2Fppu%5Fnews%5F050203b%2Easp?> News Item New Accord Reader available to city traders 03 February 2005 14:29 Traders in Aberdeen are being offered help stamping out underage sales of tobacco, solvents, spray paints and other restricted items. The Accord Reader is a small till-top device that verifies an age band for customers, using the information stored on their Accord Card - Aberdeen City Council's pioneering smartcard. The gadget is already a common sight in city stores - with the Safer Aberdeen partnership having bought and distributed 320 readers among shops providing off sales, prior to Christmas. Now the Accord team is writing to newsagents, video stores and cinemas offering them the chance to pick up the invaluable devices, which cost just #15 each. Accord Readers are small devices, little bigger than the Accord Card itself. They work by accessing the birth date information stored on each card and displaying a minimum age for the customer, such as 12, 16, 18 - verifying whether they are entitled to buy tobacco, lottery products, alcohol and other age-restricted items. The cardholder's date of birth itself is not revealed and no other personal information - such as entitlement to concessionary travel, free school meals or library lending - can be accessed. The Accord Card is already issued to secondary school pupils in the city - a key group when addressing the issue of underage sales. It can be used to determine whether a customer can legally be sold items including tobacco products, knives, videos and DVDs, fireworks, glue, lighter fuel and spray paint. The Accord Reader Benefit to the retailer: Rather than relying on retail staff to calculate, or even guess, a customer's date of birth, the Proof of Age Reader gives them access to secure, reliable data at their fingertips. Any Accord Card can be inserted in the Reader, instantly displaying a message that the bearer is ''OVER XX'', one of a range of specified ages. Retailers also have a secondary check, using the photograph on the back of each Accord Card, to confirm the customer is who they say they are. All pupils of Council-run secondary schools in Aberdeen hold Accord Cards. Benefit to customers: Customers will be safe in the knowledge they can prove they are entitled to purchase certain products, and they - and you - are not unwittingly breaking the law. The Accord Card In simplistic terms, the Accord Card is: * A system identifier Grampian Police backs the Accord Card as a proof of age and identity. It also identifies those users who are Young Scots. * A product carrier Currently, 19,000 concessionary cardholders use the card - as a proof of identity - when they travel on public transport. This initiative is being further developed to provide transport ticketing. Accord replaces library cards. However, its use is not limited to Council service - it can be used in the private sector. It will be a long lasting card, which provides users with greater and easier access to many benefits and services. * An electronic purse Twelve secondary schools currently use Accord as an electronic purse - allowing for cashless catering and vending. This encourages children to access concessionary entitlements anonymously - removing any stigma attached to receiving free school meals or clothing grants. These are just a few of the potential benefits of the Accord Card. It aims to become one card that replaces many others - for example, replacing library cards, leisure cards, travel cards and dinner tickets. The Accord Card will be available to all citizens of Aberdeen during 2005. To find out more about the scheme, please contact the Accord Office on 01224 645596 between the hours on 9:00 am and 4:00pm, Monday to Friday. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'