BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s experience with regular tests in the market to see if customers are asked to show that they are old enough to buy alcohol is paying off, says the government.

Ten years of regular checks in 23 cantons has refined the system so that more tests are carried out in the areas that pose the biggest risk, and yet the results for 2010 show an improvement: under-age buyers succeed in getting alcohol in one out of four cases where they try, an improvement over the previous rate of one in three. Seven cantons show a rate of one in five.

Beer and wine cannot be sold to anyone under 16 in Switzerland and hard liquor sales are prohibited to anyone under age 18. Bern has been working closely with the restaurant and hotel business as well as alcohol distributors and retailers to develop four training modules to help staff deal with young people trying to buy alcohol illegally.

Tests carried out in 2010 show that ID cards are now asked for in 75 percent of cases. Since 2000, more than 15,000 tests have been carried out and they show that the success rate for buying illegally has fallen from 83.5 to 26.8 percent, on average.

The government says the results show the value of checking IDs, but more needs to be done in the area of education and prevention to make it harder for young people to get hold of alcohol.