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Russian Brewers Propose a Ban on Beer Sales to People under 18.
April 28, The Union of Russian Beer and Soft Drink Manufacturers is proposing a ban on beer sales to people under 18.
As reported in a Union press release, on April 29 in the RF State Duma, there will be a public discussion of the federal draft bill "On special regulations for beer and its production" drawn up by Russian brewers.
The press release notes that the prepared draft bill specifies a list of mandatory requirements in the area of safety of beer, its production processes, storage, sales, and use. All of these aspects are currently regulated by a large number of departmental normative acts that are sometimes mutually exclusive. The brewers believe that adoption of a federal law on special technical regulations will make it possible to regulate relations between all market participants, both among themselves and with government control and supervisory bodies.
The authors of the draft have also introduced provisions into the draft that regulate the special features of retail beer sales. Specifically, it is proposed to ban sales of beer, except nonalcoholic beer, to people under 18, as well as in healthcare facilities, schools, and children's sports and physical education facilities.
The press release states that the brewers' initiative was prompted by the recent arrival of draft bills in the State Duma demanding tougher regulation of the brewing industry, for example, imposing a ban on beer ads, putting its production under operation of the law regulating the production of strong alcoholic drinks, or licensing retail beer sales. Their intiators used the availability of beer to teenagers as a the basic argument for adopting these laws.
"Although the Union of Russian Beer and Soft Drink Manufacturers shares this concern, it believes that the proposed measures to toughen the legislation with respect to the beer industry will not solve the problem but will only drive it into a corner. The problem can be solved in an entirely civilized manner by establishing an age requirement on sales based on the experience of developed countries," the press release maintains.
At present, there are nearly 300 brewing companies in Russia, more than 20 of them large, and the rest small or medium-sized.
In 2003, Russia produced 757.3 million dkl of beer vs. 702 million dkl in 2002. Beer production is expected to increase by 4% in 2004.
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Photo: Sergei Mikheev
