The canton of Vaud is launching a major campaign of test purchases on tobacco and alcohol to protect minors.

Designed on the principle of "mystery shopper" studies, test purchases of tobacco and alcohol will be carried out over four years on a sample of 400 points of sale. Combining preventive action with the possibility of sanctions, this system should help reduce tobacco and alcohol sales to minors.

Compliance with the ban on sales to minors varies greatly from one country to another, depending on the country's culture and the effectiveness of sales controls. To highlight this phenomenon, mystery shopping activities appear to be the only truly usable methodology.

Launched in the canton of Vaud under the name of "test purchases," these actions had until now only been used to raise awareness among sellers. They showed that, in this canton, alcohol had been sold to minors in 33.5% of cases.[1]They will now be rolled out on a wider scale and will also include the possibility of sanctions in the event of repeated infringements.

Systematic double visits, spread over four years

The deployment of test purchases is a joint initiative of the Department of Economy, Innovation, Employment and Heritage (DEIEP) and the Department of Health and Social Action (DSAS), the canton of Vaud having been chosen for having been a pioneer in this area.[2]. In the planned system, the test purchase operations are jointly organized by the Vaud Foundation against Alcoholism (FVA), the Unisanté university center and the Cantonal Commercial Police (PCC). The data analysis will be carried out by the Addiction Switzerland Foundation.

Targeting both tobacco and alcohol sales, these test purchases will involve two minors aged 14 to 17, supervised by an adult. These operations will run from summer 2023 to the end of 2026, a period of four years. 400 points of sale were randomly selected from the 5,000 in the canton and will be subject to at least two visits: the first, in 2023, will allow for the identification of a possible violation and, as an awareness-raising measure, will trigger the sending of a letter from the PCC reminding sellers of their obligations and setting out the results of the test purchase. A second visit will then be carried out in the following years, which may result in a fine in the event of a repeat offense. Around twenty people, including 11 minors, have been trained for this purpose.

A cumulative effect which limits sales to minors in the medium term

A change in the legal basis for these test purchases has allowed for the inclusion of a sanctions component in this approach. In terms of funding, the amount of this campaign (140,000 Swiss francs for tobacco, 155,000 Swiss francs for alcohol – or 144,200 euros and 159,650 euros) will be financed by the tithe, the federal tax levied on alcohol sales and partly paid to the cantons.

"We see that repeating this type of test purchase has an effect. The waves of test purchases that were carried out in previous years have shown that from one wave to the next, sales to young people decrease - however, they remain far too high, and that's why we're doing it again.", said Rebecca Ruiz, State Councilor in charge of health, on the RTS channel[3]Ms Ruiz acknowledged that this system does not take into account tobacco or alcohol sales made over the Internet, but believed that this type of sale requires broader coordination at the confederal level.

Keywords: Switzerland, Canton of Vaud, alcohol, mystery shoppers, test purchases.

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[1] Alcohol test purchases: poor results show the limits of the current system, Addiction Switzerland, published June 30, 2022, accessed May 16, 2023

[2] The Canton of Vaud is launching a campaign of test purchases of alcohol and tobacco made with minors., State of Vaud, press release, published on May 15, 2023, consulted on May 16, 2023.

[3] Furrer J, Vaud launches its crusade against the sale of alcohol and tobacco to minors, RTS, published on May 15, 2023, consulted on May 16, 2023.