New liquor law in force

New liquor law in force: Business owners selling liquor will have to do it within the confines of a new list of provisions and regulated trading hours or risk having their liquor licences revoked. This comes after the Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies last month gazetted the National Liquor Norms and Standards. The new rules must be implemented with immediate effect.

The new rules that apply to those businesses that sell liquor on-site such as restaurants, taverns and bars include: no entry for those in possession of any guns or knives, no loitering or littering outside the premises, no disturbing neighbours, the putting in place of mandatory safety and evacuation measures, the availability of free condoms on the premises as well as tap water and ablution facilities at no cost to the patron.

The rules further state that it is against the law to sell alcohol to anyone under the age of 18 or to buy alcohol on behalf of them. If there is any doubt about the age of anyone buying alcohol, the business owner must ask for the buyer’s identity document. Alcohol may also not be sold to someone who refuses to provide proof of age or for those wishing to buy alcohol to drink off premises. A person under the age of 18 years, accompanied by an adult, may be allowed access to a liquor-licenced establishment but no alcohol may be served to such a minor.

The new rules have set maximum permissible trading hours for businesses in the liquor industry. These are: 6pm to 6am, seven days a week for night clubs in business areas and 6pm to midnight for those in residential areas; and 10am to 9pm from Mondays to Saturdays and 10am to 5pm on Sundays for businesses with on-site consumption licences in residential areas.

Businesses with off-site consumption licences such as bottle stores must keep records of all sales of more than 25 litres to any unlicensed person, such as the buyer’s name and address, kind and quantity of alcohol bought, and the price and reason for the purchase.

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