The government's alcohol law reform package will tighten restrictions on licensed suppliers - though not to the extent recommended by the Law Commission.Justice Minister Simon Power has recommended that the government adopt or partially adopt 126 of the L
The government's alcohol law reform package will tighten restrictions on licensed suppliers - though not to the extent recommended by the Law Commission.
Justice Minister Simon Power has recommended that the government adopt or partially adopt 126 of the Law Commission’s 153 recommendations, with a few additional changes thrown in.
The package aims to reduce alcohol harm across all sectors, with a particular focus on youth.
The key national-level changes that will affect retailers are:
- a split in alcohol purchase age to 20 years for off-licenses and 18 years for on-licenses;
- restricting RTDs to five per cent alcohol and no larger than 1.5 standard drinks;
- allowing bans on alcohol products considered particularly harmful;
- banning promotions designed to appeal to people under the purchase age;
- setting national opening hours at 7am to 11pm for off-licenses and 8am-4am for on-licenses;
- increased penalties for liquor license breaches;
- strengthening laws to make sure dairies and convenience stores are not eligible for an off-license; and
- giving retailers one year to volunteer sales and price data, to be used to investigate a minimum pricing regime.
Local authorities will be able to further restrict – or extend – opening hours through local alcohol plans, and will be able to set the desired concentration and location of alcohol outlets in their areas.
Local alcohol plans must be considered during licensing decision-making.
It is expected that the new legislation will be passed in mid-2011 but that changes will not take effect until after the Rugby World Cup.
Costs to retailers
Most of the costs of the proposals will fall on licensed retailers in the form of higher licensing fees and compliance costs, including restricted trading hours.
But Mr Power said he did not expect the economic implications of the proposals to be large – and pointed out that the economy overall will benefit if alcohol-related injury, sickness and loss of life can be reduced.
“The proposals target excessive drinking", he said.
"I would expect that the amount of alcohol drunk on single occasions would reduce but there may not be a significant change in consumption levels.”
Limits on advertising
The government will not consider changes to the self-regulatory nature of existing advertising restrictions, as recommended by the Law Commission.
The Law Commission found that industry self-regulation had failed to curb irresponsible alcohol promotion.
But Mr Power told media that industry self-regulation had worked "relatively well" and said that it would be premature to make far-reaching changes.
He said the new legislation would send a “pretty clear signal that there are now some aspects of advertising that we regard as no longer acceptable".
