News: A reminder - Two New Additional Conditions on Your Premise Licence
- Date: 23/09/2011
- Author/Solicitor: Jeremy Allen
A reminder - two new conditions will appear on every licence as from the 1st October 2010. Don't imagine that because the present Government is ambivalent about these that it won't happen. It will, and any licence holder could face a review or worse as a result of failure to comply.
They are worth repeating in full:-
The first applies to all premises including off licences. It may also apply to remote sellers of alcohol, whether they be a supermarket or a specialist trader. Quite how they could properly comply with the condition is a matter for speculation. I think that the wording will need to be formally considered in Court before we know precisely what it means.
"(1)The premises licence holder or club premises certificate holder shall ensure that an age verification policy applies to the premises in relation to the sale or supply of alcohol:-
(2)The policy must require individuals who appear to the responsible person to be under 18 years of age (or such older age as may be specified in the policy) to produce on request, before being served alcohol, identification bearing their photograph, date of birth and a holographic mark."
The first thing to point out is that this condition specifically relates to the premises licence holder or club premises certificate holder and does not therefore apply directly to the DPS or any other member of staff at the premises. The requirement is to produce an age verification policy in relation to the sale or supply of alcohol. The second part of the condition states that the policy must require individuals who appear to be under 18 years of age to produce, on request, before being served alcohol, the identification required. This would clearly apply to both the on and the off trade where the individual attends at the premises. If it applies to all sales, whether the individual is present or not, then it will make remote sales impossible. Supermarkets would not be able to see this type of identification before dispatching the alcohol, following a telephone order. The alcohol might only be a very small part of a large grocery order. Similar problems apply to other remote sellers of alcohol e.g. wine merchants. It is worth remembering that a remote seller of alcohol can simply deliver the goods to the house, by putting them in a safe place, e.g. a greenhouse, or by letting somebody under the age of 18 take delivery. There is a specific exemption for people under 18 receiving the goods in this way. No one will however have seen any identification from the person ordering the alcohol. It would be impossible for the licence holder to write a policy to this effect. Is this an automatic breach of the condition for any remote seller?
It is just worth drawing your attention to the words 'or such older age as may be specified in the policy'. If you have a condition attached to your licence which specified an older age, e.g. 21, then you clearly have to comply with it and require persons who appear to be under this age to produce identification. If you only have a voluntary policy then do you have to comply? I think you do, although the Home Office has indicated that they don't agree with me. Having said that we are still awaiting the Home Office's published guidance on these conditions. Hopefully it will be produced soon.
The second condition states "the responsible person shall ensure that:-
(a) Where any of the following alcoholic drinks is sold or supplied for sale or consumption on the premises (other than alcoholic drinks sold or supplied having been made up in advance ready for sale or supply in a securely closed container) it is available to customers in the following measures:-
1. Beer or cider - ½ pint;
2. Gin, rum, vodka or whisky - 25ml or 35ml; and
3. Still wine in a glass - 125ml; and
(b) Customers are made aware of the availability of these measures."
This is relatively straightforward and easy to understand. You should note however that they are definite requirements and you must be prepared to serve in these measures. You must also make customers aware of the availability of these measures, presumably by putting up a notice to this effect. If you need any new glasses, you had better get them in quickly!
