As of April 2023 the UK Government published the updated Offensive Weapons Act 2019 in the process this put into place a new set of laws relating to the sale of Razor Blades online, the following is an extract from the Act:
“Sale of bladed articles to persons under 18
It is already an offence to sell articles with blade or sharp point to a person under 18, unless it is a knife with a folding blade of 3 inches (7.62 cm) or less[footnote 3]. Section 34 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 extends the range of items to which the existing offence applies.
The existing law
Section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 prohibits the sale of the following bladed articles to under 18s:
- any knife, knife blade or razor blade (other than a razor blade permanently enclosed in a cartridge or housing where less than 2mm is exposed)[footnote 4]
- any axe
- any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person”
The following are now legal requirements for the sale of Bladed items and as such Blades & Whiskers Ltd has put into place new procedures:
- the seller has a system in place to verify the age of the purchaser and that they are not under 18, and that the system is likely to prevent purchases by under 18s
- the package when dispatched by the seller is clearly marked that it both contains a bladed article and that it can only be delivered and handed over to a person aged 18 or over (whether the purchaser or someone representing them)
- the seller has taken all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to ensure that when the package is delivered, it is handed over to a person aged 18 or over. This applies whether the seller delivers the package themselves or through a third party, for example by staff at a collection point
- the seller does not deliver the package, or arrange for it to be delivered, to a locker
Due to this legislation, Blades & Whiskers Ltd has put in place new shipping rules for the sale of any Razor Blades. As of 7th May 2024 Royal Mail will no longer allow any Bladed Article including razor blades to be sent through their mail network using any service which does not provide age verification upon delivery.
Blades & Whiskers will ship all razor blades using Royal Mail's Tracked 24 or 48 Age Verification service. The delivery person will request a form of identification from any customer who looks under the age of 25. When purchasing any item other than razor blades your shipping options will still allow Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 delivery.
We have tried our best to keep the options for shipping as clear as possible and to keep the costs as low as we can but as you can understand when laws such as these change we must make the correct changes to reflect these.
For more information in relation to the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 please see the below:
Statutory guidance: Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (accessible) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If you have any questions relating to the purchase of any items from our website please contact us at info@bladesandwhiskers.co.uk
We thank you for continuing to support our business.