ArticleEuropean journal of public health2023
A mystery-shopping study to test enforcement of minimum legal purchasing age in Lithuania in 2022.
Article in European journal of public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Baltics: Benchmarking alcohol control reform for the European Union and surrounding countries.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Mystery shopping of tobacco, nicotine and alcohol products in 20 European countries: a cross-sectional study in the JAPreventNCD project.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Adherence to Underage Alcohol Sales Regulations in the Republic of Cyprus: Evidence from Repeated Cross-Sectional Mystery Shopping Study.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2026Article
- Impact of the WHO "best buys" for alcohol policy on consumption and health in the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAccording to the Lithuanian law to prevent the sale of alcohol to customers below the legal minimum purchasing age of 20 years, young adults below 25 years must be asked to show an age-verification document when purchasing alcohol. The aim of this study was to assess whether off-premise outlets comply with the law.
methodsIn 2022, mystery-shopping study was carried out in three consecutive phases: (i) in a representative sample (n = 239) of off-premise alcohol outlets covering all Lithuanian district centres, (ii) after lifting the requirement to wear a mask and (iii) after warning the outlets that a mystery-shopping study was ongoing. Phases 2 and 3 were held in two cities. The mystery shopping involved attempts by young, but legally eligible customers to purchase alcohol. Across the three study phases, we compared compliance with the law by measuring overall success of purchase attempts and included situational characteristics (working day or weekend), time of day and number of customers in line as an additional predictor.
resultsOut of 239 attempts to purchase alcohol from off-premise outlets in the main phase of the study, 107 (or 44.8%) were considered to be successful (visits in which staff were willing to sell alcohol). There was a significantly higher chance of success to purchase alcohol with no ID request if a mystery shopper was the only customer in a queue and on weekends.
conclusionsThe results indicate an insufficient level of age-verification control in Lithuania, and that additional action is needed to increase compliance.
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