Valvira opposes permitting the delivery of alcoholic beverages
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has requested a statement from the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) on the Finnish Government’s proposal for amending the Alcohol Act. It is proposed that alcoholic beverages could be delivered from retail outlets to customers based on a separate alcohol delivery licence. Valvira is not in favour of permitting the delivery of alcoholic beverages from retail outlets.
The purpose of the Alcohol Act is to reduce the consumption of alcoholic beverages by restricting and supervising related business activities. This seeks to prevent any harm caused by alcohol for users, other people and society at large. Permitting the delivery of alcoholic beverages would increase their availability and the harm caused by alcohol.
The amendment would permit the sale of alcoholic beverages practically anywhere, in homes, parks and marketplaces, for example, which would significantly reduce the opportunities of economic operators to supervise compliance with the sale prohibitions laid down in the Alcohol Act and the supervision abilities of the authorities. To ensure supervision, Valvira requires that alcoholic beverages could only be sold by delivery licence holders or members of their personnel and that everyone selling alcoholic beverages would have to work under the licence holder’s management and supervision. A delivery licence can be obtained by anyone who meets the licence requirements, including shops, transport companies and individual food delivery couriers that hold a retail licence for alcoholic beverages. Regarding the supervision of age limits, Valvira also proposes that individuals receiving alcoholic beverages should always prove their age by showing an identify card when accepting a delivery.
At the beginning of the year, Valvira and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) prepared a study of the home delivery of alcoholic beverages for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. It comprehensively presented all the challenges that are related to the delivery of alcoholic beverages and its impact on the licence system. The study is available on our website (in Finnish).
Valvira sees that the individual amendments to the Alcohol Act planned in the Government Programme should be assessed as a whole based on research data. In Valvira’s view, the sale and delivery of alcoholic beverages from other countries should definitely be resolved in conjunction with the delivery of alcoholic beverages inside Finland. In addition, all the corrections identified after the reform of the Alcohol Act should be made in the Alcohol Act at the same time.
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Further information
Jussi Holmalahti, Director, +358 295 209 500