Beer Law: latest changes. Beer trading rules

Last year, 2017, the legislation in the field of circulation of alcoholic products, in particular beer, underwent some changes. Punishments for violations in this area have been tightened, and some provisions regarding the rules for the circulation of alcohol-containing products have been changed.

The essence of the law

The main legal document in the field of sales of alcohol, and beer in particular, is adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation in July and approved by the Federation Council of the Russian Federation in November 1995.

Structurally, Law 171-FZ is presented in four chapters, including 27 articles. Let's look at the summary of the law, outlining the main points:

Chapter 1. General provisions: scope of the law, basic concepts, relevant legislation, state monopoly on the production and circulation of alcohol and alcohol, powers of federal and local authorities in this area.

Also read the Federal Law on Bankruptcy of Individuals. More details

Chapter 2. Requirements for the production and circulation of beer: rules for using equipment, circulation and supply of alcohol and alcohol, accompanying documentation, special requirements, taxation and labeling, regulation of import and export of alcoholic products, accounting and declaration of production volume, turnover and use of grape volume (in the production of wine and cognac products), registration production equipment, requirements for retail sales, drinking rules and restrictions.

Chapter 3. Licensing: types of activities subject to licensing, procedure for issuing a license, suspension, renewal and termination and cancellation of a license, procedure for appealing a refusal to issue a license.

Read about state secrets

Chapter 4. State supervision: control in the field of production, supervision of compliance with mandatory requirements, licensing control, supervision of the use of equipment, public control, SRO of winemakers and winegrowers, suppression of illegal production and trafficking of alcohol, restrictions, features of the application of certain provisions of Law 171-FZ.

As can be seen from the thesis structure of the law, the main subjects of regulation of this law are the production and circulation of ethyl production and alcoholic products, as well as restrictions on drinking alcohol.

As for beer, in paragraph 13.1 of part 1 of Art. 2 of Law 171-FZ provides a definition of this drink, a brief description of the production technology and a description of the tolerances for the content of components.

Also read: Federal Law 261 in the latest edition. Details

Also, the “beer law” stipulates that technological equipment for the production of beer and beer drinks must be equipped with automation that measures and takes into account the concentration (strength) of the drink, as well as the volume of finished products, with an exception made for small breweries.

Article 12 of the law states that the requirements for mandatory labeling of alcoholic beverages do not apply to beer and beer drinks.

An exception has also been made for beer and beer drinks in the retail sector. In the retail trade of alcohol and the provision of public catering services, only organizations have the right to sell alcoholic products. However, individual entrepreneurs also have the right to sell beer and beer drinks.

According to the provisions of Part 7 of Article 16 on special requirements for the retail sale of alcohol when providing public catering services, as well as for drinking alcohol, the ban on drinking alcohol in public places also applies to beer and beer drinks. If the drink was purchased at an establishment, it should only be consumed in that establishment.

According to Part 9 of the same article of the “law on the sale of beer,” the rule banning the sale of alcohol between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. local time also applies to beer, but the sale of this drink in establishments (restaurants, bars, etc.) is permitted.

Federal Law on Trade in a new edition

Paragraph 1 of Article 18 states that production and circulation of beer and beer drinks are not subject to licensing. Let us recall that the term “turnover” (according to paragraph 16 of Article 2) includes purchase, delivery, storage, transportation and retail sales.

On January 1, 2018, the deferrals and relaxations that applied to Crimea and the city of Sevastopol ended. Now the requirements for the production and circulation of alcohol in this territory are imposed in full.

Are there penalties for breaking the law?

In July 2017, the President signed a law amending the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which provides for increased liability for the illegal sale of alcohol. Responsibility for violating the rules for the production and sale of alcoholic products is prescribed in Articles 14.16 - 14.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Let's figure it out how to sell beer under the new law. When selling bottled and draft beer, the seller must consider and observe the following main points:

Trading time. According to Law 171-FZ, the permissible time for the sale of alcohol in the country is from 8 to 23 hours local time. In some cities and regions, even stricter restrictions have been established, and the night ban may also be supplemented by certain holidays on which retail alcohol cannot be sold - for example, on school graduation days.

For violation there is a fine in the amount of:

For the seller - 30 - 50 thousand rubles;
For the owner of a store or retail outlet: 5-10 thousand rubles;
For an individual entrepreneur and a legal entity: up to 100 thousand rubles with confiscation.

Place of trade. Beer can only be sold in stationary retail establishments (the building must be capital and be included in the unified real estate register). Selling beer in stalls and kiosks is prohibited. It is also prohibited to sell beer in the following facilities and in the areas adjacent to them: children's, educational and medical institutions, sports and cultural facilities, public transport of all types and its stops, gas stations, markets, train stations, airports and other places of public gathering (with the exception of catering ), military installations.

For selling alcohol in the wrong place, a fine is imposed in the amount of:

From business owners 10-15 thousand rubles;
From a legal entity - up to 300 thousand rubles.

EGAIS— Unified state automated information system. Organizations and individual entrepreneurs purchasing beer for retail sale are required to connect to the system only to confirm purchases of wholesale quantities from legal suppliers. The seller must register on the Rosalkogolregulirovanie website. After this, the system will need to confirm the fact of purchasing a batch each time and reflect the remaining product.

For violation of the procedure for recording information on the volume of alcohol turnover in the Unified State Automated Information System (EGAIS) fines are imposed in the following amounts:

For individuals (company manager) - from 10 to 15 thousand rubles;
For legal entities - 150,000 - 200,000 rubles.

In both cases, confiscation of illegally sold products is possible.

Availability of a cash register. From March 31, 2017, selling beer, including in public catering, is possible only with the use of a cash register - regardless of the tax regime. Selling beer without using a cash register is punishable according to Article 14.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The fine is:

For individual entrepreneurs and heads of organizations - 25% - 50% of the settlement amount, but not less than 10,000 rubles;
For organizations - from 75% to 100% of the settlement amount, but not less than 30,000 rubles.

Buyer's age. If there is the slightest doubt about the buyer’s age, the seller should ask him to present an identification document.

For the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors, an administrative fine is provided in the amount (Part 2.1 of Article 14.16 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation):

For the seller - from 30 to 50 thousand rubles;
For a manager (official) - from 100 to 200 thousand rubles;
For legal entities - from 300 to 500 thousand rubles.

Maintaining a register of retail trade volumes is a mandatory requirement for sellers of alcohol and in particular beer. The log must be completed daily.

For violation of this requirement or incorrect journal keeping, a fine is imposed in the amount of:

For individual entrepreneurs - from 10 to 15 thousand rubles;
For organizations - from 150 to 200 thousand.

In addition, a declaration on beer turnover must be submitted quarterly to Rosalkogolregulirovanie. Download useful files:

Container and its volume. A sensational innovation in relatively recent times prescribes a ban on the production and sale of beer bottled in plastic containers with a volume of more than 1.5 liters. This change was related to the state policy of combating beer alcoholism and was made to reduce alcohol consumption by the population.

For violation of this provision there is a fine:

For individual entrepreneurs - from 100 to 200 thousand rubles;
For organizations - from 300 to 500 thousand.

In case illegal sale of alcohol by an individual, the violator faces a fine of 30 to 50 thousand rubles (Article 14.17.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

What changes have been made?

Amendments came into force on January 1, 2018, prescribed in Federal Law No. 278-FZ of July 29, 2017. In many ways, the amendments affected the circulation of medicines, medical products and preparations containing alcohol.

Below we will discuss in more detail the amendments to the law that specifically affected the circulation of beer and alcoholic beverages.

Clause 2.3 art. 11 was presented in a different edition. Thus, an organization producing alcoholic products must own, operate, manage or lease for a period of one year production and warehouse premises that meet the established requirements, which are real estate objects.

Article 11 of Law 171-FZ was also supplemented by clause 8, according to which the production of alcoholic beverages whose strength is less than 15% and containing tonic substances is prohibited. Such drinks are allowed to be produced only for export purposes.

Clause 1 of Article 14 has been reworded. Its provisions mostly affected the accounting of the volume of production of alcoholic products and the procedure for declaring them, which was described in detail in the subsection of this article on fines.

Clause 1 of Article 26 on restrictions in the production and circulation of alcohol was supplemented with a paragraph stating that from now on, when moving across the territory of Russia and across the state border, either on foot or by car or other transport, one person should have no more than 10 liters of unmarked alcohol. alcohol products.

The fine for disseminating such information will be:

For citizens from 3 thousand to 5 thousand rubles;
For officials - from 20 thousand to 40 thousand rubles;
For legal entities - from 100 thousand to 300 thousand rubles.

Download the current version of the law

This information will be useful to both producers and consumers of beer and beer drinks. In addition, the information presented in the article can serve as a reminder for owners and managers of stores and establishments selling these products.

For more detailed information about the provisions of the law, we offer No. 171-FZ dated November 22, 1995 “On state regulation of the production and turnover of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products and on limiting the consumption (drinking) of alcoholic products” with amendments and additions that came into force on 1 January 2018.

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New rules for retail beer trade from March 1, 2017

The laws regulating the sale of beer and other types of alcohol are periodically amended in order to improve them. Amendments and additions concern a variety of aspects: production, new technologies, equipment of retail outlets, sale and rental of beer bottling equipment, beer containers and much more. On March 31, 2017, new changes and provisions in the Law on Retail Sale of Beer come into effect.

New requirements for the sale of draft beer

The new provisions concern the specifics of trade in beer products when providing catering services. The changes expand the capabilities of stores with catering functions and, conversely, prohibit the sale of draft beer to those who do not provide food.

Places prohibited for retail sale of beer and alcoholic beverages
The changes affected the list of places prohibited for retail trade. It includes:

premises used and owned by organizations engaged in activities in the field of culture, medical and educational activities (Part 1, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
sports complexes, including buildings and nearby territories (Part 2, Part 10, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
wholesale and retail trade markets (Part 3, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
gas stations and public transport (Part 4, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
places of deployment of troops, military bodies and formations ensuring the security and defense of the Russian Federation, as well as territories adjacent to them (Part 5, Part 10, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
airports, train stations and nearby areas (Part 6, Part 10, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
places where there are sources of increased danger, established in accordance with the law, as well as nearby territories (Part 7, Part 10, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
venues for mass and public events with large crowds of citizens, as well as adjacent territories (Part 8, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
non-stationary retail outlets (Part 9, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law);
territories adjacent to medical and educational organizations (Part 10, Clause 2 of Article 16 of the Law).

The amended law for the above list contains exceptions for organizations selling draft beer and providing catering services.

According to the amended law, the sale of beer with the provision of food is permitted in the premises of theaters, concert halls, and in areas adjacent to sports facilities, with the exception of competitions and other sports with the participation of children and youth. The list of public catering facilities where the retail sale of beer is permitted includes retail and wholesale markets, train stations, airports, gas stations and adjacent areas, as well as non-stationary retail outlets.

Other changes

The second change concerns the ban, which was introduced in 2017, on the sale of beer without the EGAIS barcode (Part 13, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law) and remote sales (Part 14, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Law).

Another change in the law, which comes into force in March 2017, relates to the terms of service. In accordance with the legal norm, beer and other types of alcohol sold as part of public catering must be sold in facilities that have halls equipped with everything necessary. Such objects also include dining cars, airplanes and water transport.

One of the important rules is the opening of containers by the seller selling alcoholic beverages (clause 4 of article 16 of the Law).

Beer or other types of alcohol purchased at a catering establishment must be drunk on the spot (paragraph 2, paragraph 8, article 16 of the Law).

Conclusion

The article lists the main changes that will be introduced into the law on the last day of March. The most large-scale changes concerned Article 16 of the Law. With the start of their action, draft beer stores that do not have their own catering facilities will not be able to trade. Organizations and entrepreneurs selling beer and other alcoholic beverages with food services should prepare for amendments and additions to ensure that all necessary requirements are met when selling beer.

On January 1, 2017, a number of changes came into effect that will affect the sale of alcohol. Officials have limited the sale of beer in plastic bottles, which will have a significant impact on the industry. At the same time, the sale of alcohol will be carried out within the framework of the Unified State Automated Information System. By July, registration of alcohol sales will become mandatory not only for cities, but also for small towns.

Sale of alcohol: key changes from January 1, 2017

Lawmakers have banned the sale of alcoholic beverages in PET containers larger than 1.5 liters. At the same time, the restrictions apply to the entire range of products, although initially it was intended to limit only the sale of beer. Legislators also allowed for a reduction in the maximum container capacity to 0.5 liters, but during further discussions they abandoned this idea.

From the beginning of next year, the production and wholesale trade of alcohol in appropriate packaging will be limited. The ban on retail sales comes into force in the second half of 2017.

Violations of the adopted law are fraught with serious fines. If the volume of the bottle exceeds the established standards, the fine for the organization will be 300-500 thousand rubles. In addition, officials will have to pay an additional 100-200 thousand rubles. penalties. In such conditions, from January 1, 2017, the production of alcohol in plastic containers that do not meet the standards will lead to serious costs.

The initiative of officials is aimed at improving the quality of alcoholic products. The release of alcohol in “large” plastic bottles allowed many companies to violate production technologies, which affected the consumer properties of the products. As a result of the consumption of such products, a threat to the health of citizens was created, government officials noted.

Alcohol producers are skeptical about the officials' initiative. First of all, the new rules will negatively affect beer sales in 2017.

Tighter rules for manufacturers

From 2017, several additions to the rules that apply to alcohol producers will be introduced. Let us remind you that for today they are:

— only legal entities can produce alcohol;

— production areas must meet all standards and be leased or owned. Moreover, a rental agreement cannot be concluded for a period of less than one year.

Now it is specifically stipulated that these premises must be exclusively stationary.

Since 2017, untimely payment of administrative fines will become grounds for refusal to issue a license or its suspension. This is a fairly strict rule that has not been practiced before.

Also, government agencies will have the opportunity to conduct unscheduled inspections of manufacturers based solely on the analysis of documentation received during inspection.

Position of domestic brewers

The decision of legislators to limit PET containers will deal a significant blow to Russian brewers. Industry representatives have not yet recovered from the economic crisis and continue to experience significant financial difficulties. In addition, innovations will affect related industries that produce plastic bottles.

In addition to entrepreneurs, regional budgets will face negative consequences, as they will lose a significant portion of revenues. At the same time, the arguments of officials who intend to limit the volume of PET containers look quite controversial. Manufacturers do not see a direct connection between product quality and the volume of plastic bottles. If legislators intend to take care of the health of citizens, then to achieve this goal it is enough to strengthen control over compliance with production technology.

In such conditions, market participants turned to Vladimir Putin for support. Without government assistance, many companies will not be able to fulfill their obligations and will find themselves on the verge of bankruptcy.

In addition, domestic brewers were forced to join the EGAIS program, which required significant investment from business representatives.

Features of EGAIS

Trade in alcoholic products must be carried out within the framework of the Unified State Automated Information System, which will remain relevant from January 1, 2017. This automatic accounting mechanism allows you to track the movement and sale of alcohol in real time, which is an effective way to combat the shadow market.

The point of sale of alcoholic beverages must be equipped with a special scanner that recognizes information from each bottle and transmits the information to a single database. In addition, for additional security, a two-dimensional barcode has been developed, which is printed on each receipt. Using this information, the consumer can verify the authenticity of the purchased product.

The use of EGAIS makes it possible to improve quality control of alcoholic products at each stage of sales. Another issue that worried officials was increasing budget revenues. With the help of this mechanism, sales volumes of “shadow” alcohol are reduced, which increases tax revenues.

For business representatives, the transition to using EGAIS was associated with significant difficulties. Manufacturers have been forced to increase their costs to ensure timely data transfer. Considering the difficult financial situation of many companies during the crisis, additional investments came as an unpleasant surprise to most of them. At the same time, business representatives had no choice; working without using EGAIS is fraught with serious fines.

In 2017, changes will come into force that will affect the sale of alcohol. In particular, from July 1, 2017, the production of beer and other alcohol in PET containers whose volume exceeds one and a half liters is prohibited.

This measure is aimed at improving product quality, officials say. In turn, business representatives consider such innovations harmful to the development of the alcohol industry.

In addition, the sale of alcohol must be carried out within the framework of the Unified State Automated Information System. An automated accounting system allows you to reduce the volume of the shadow market and increase control over the authenticity of alcoholic products.

Failure to comply with established standards will result in serious fines, the amount of which reaches 0.5 million rubles.

Selling alcohol via the Internet

It continues to remain illegal in 2017, but the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation proposed to resolve this issue step by step. They plan to start with the legalization of sales of wine products with protected geographical names, as well as beer and mead. Most likely this will happen as early as next year, and from 2019, it will be possible to legally sell any labeled alcohol on the Internet. Naturally, provided that the entrepreneur receives permits with a license and registers with EGAIS.

From alcohol to healthy lifestyle

The government became concerned about the way of life of Russians and decided to improve its health. A project with the loud title “Formation of a healthy lifestyle” was published on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers. According to the plan, the number of healthy lifestyle adherents should increase from the current 36 to 60 percent in just three years. Therefore, we can assume that the rules for the sale of alcohol in 2017 and subsequent ones will become stricter and prices will rise.

Sooner or later, any entrepreneur wonders about the rules of law governing his type of activity. After all, there is responsibility for violating established rules, and often quite severe, and ignorance of the law, as we know, does not relieve one from this responsibility. Retail trade in beer and beer-based drinks is no exception.

So, what laws regulate the activities of beer stores?

First of all, Federal Law No. 171-FZ of November 22, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as the Law), also often referred to as the “main alcohol law,” will help us understand this. This legal act establishes the basic rules for the production, circulation and consumption of alcoholic products. At the same time, the legislator outlined a number of significant differences between the sale of alcohol in principle and the retail sale of beer in particular.

The first important feature of the beer trade is the permissible organizational and legal form of the seller. While the sale of strong alcohol is carried out only by organizations (with the exception of wine and champagne sold by the manufacturer), the Law in paragraph 1 of Art. 16 also allows individual entrepreneurs. But it should be especially noted that this applies only to retail, wholesale, according to the general rule enshrined in paragraph 1 of Art. 11, is also carried out exclusively by organizations.

The second feature of this type of activity is that, according to paragraph 1 of Art. 18 of the Law, it is not subject to licensing.

Organizations and individual entrepreneurs engaged in the retail sale of beer, as a general rule, are required to be connected to the EGAIS system, but only to confirm the purchase of wholesale quantities of goods from legal manufacturers and suppliers. But confirmation of the fact of sale of each bottle, as is the case with strong alcohol and wine, is not required when selling beer.

According to the norms of Federal Law No. 54-FZ of May 22, 2003, to sell draft or bottled beer, The seller must use a cash register. However, Federal Law No. 278-FZ of July 29, 2017 provides a deferment until July 1, 2018 for catering establishments on UTII or a patent.

Clause 2 Art. 16 of the Law, as amended in 2017, establishes the rules for the sale of draft beer and beer in general in the form of a number of prohibitions:

- Sale of beer to minors is prohibited , that is, persons under 18 years of age. At the same time, if there is any doubt about the buyer’s age, the seller has the right to demand from him a document confirming his majority. Such documents, according to Order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade No. 1728 dated May 31, 2017, include a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation, an international passport, a temporary identity card, a sailor’s passport, a diplomatic passport, a military ID, a driver’s license, a fan ID (Fan ID), etc.

- Remote sale of beer is prohibited , including via the Internet.

- The sale of beer in polymer consumer containers (PET) with a volume of more than 1500 ml is prohibited.

- The sale of beer is prohibited in the following facilities:

In premises owned or used by organizations carrying out educational, medical activities, activities in the region as the main (statutory) type of activity;

In sports facilities;

In wholesale and retail markets;

In all types of public transport and at gas stations;

In the locations of troops, military formations and bodies ensuring the defense and security of the Russian Federation, and in adjacent territories;

At train stations and airports;

In places where there are sources of increased danger;

In places of mass gathering of citizens during public events;

In areas adjacent to educational, medical organizations, as well as sports facilities.

However, for organizations that sell beer while providing public catering services, the Law provides for a number of exceptions. Thus, the sale of draft and bottled beer within the scope of providing public catering services is permitted in concert and theater halls, parks, areas adjacent to sports facilities, wholesale and retail markets, gas stations, train stations, airports and adjacent areas.

- The sale of beer in non-stationary objects is prohibited. The stationarity of an object is determined by the impossibility of its movement without disproportionate harm to its purpose. The object must have a strong connection with the land in the form of a foundation and connection to main communications. In this case, the connection must be not only physical, but also legal: the building must be entered in the real estate register. The law does not establish restrictions on the area of a retail facility. Thus, it is prohibited to sell draft and bottled beer in stalls, kiosks, pavilions and other temporary structures. This ban also does not apply to public catering establishments.

Clause 9 art. 16 sets time frame for the sale of alcoholic beverages . Thus, at the federal level there is a ban on the sale of alcohol from 11 pm to 8 am the next day local time. This ban does not apply to public catering - cafes and restaurants, as well as to duty-free shops. At the same time, federal legislation establishes the right of local authorities to introduce more stringent limits on the timing of the sale of alcohol on their territory, up to and including a complete ban on sales. On at the moment In Moscow and the Moscow region, federal standards apply.

Violation of these rules is an administrative offense and entails liability. At the same time, the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses distinguishes three types of persons for whom different limits of punishment are established - individuals (seller), officials (individual entrepreneur or head of an organization), and legal entities.

Violation of the rules for using cash register equipment (Part 2 of Article 14.5 of the Administrative Code) entails the imposition of a fine on officials in the amount of 1/4 to 1/2 of the amount of the settlement carried out without the use of cash register equipment, but not less than 10 thousand rubles; for legal entities - from 3/4 to 1 of the amount of the settlement made using cash and (or) electronic means of payment without the use of cash register equipment, but not less than 30 thousand rubles

Violation when declaring turnover (15.13 Code of Administrative Offenses) in the form non-compliance with the procedure for filing a declaration, missing the deadline for submitting a declaration or reflecting false information in the declaration entails a fine on officials from 5 to 10 thousand rubles; for legal entities - from 50 to 100 thousand rubles.

Violation of accounting for production and turnover of beer products (14.19 Code of Administrative Offenses) entails the imposition of a fine on officials from 10 to 15 thousand rubles with or without confiscation of products; for legal entities - from 150 to 200 thousand rubles with or without confiscation of products.

Sales of beer in PET containers with a volume of more than 1500 milliliters (Clause 4 of Article 14.17 of the Administrative Code) entails the imposition of a fine on officials from 100 to 200 thousand rubles; for legal entities - from 300 to 500 thousand rubles.

Violation of special requirements and rules for the retail sale of alcoholic beverages (Part 3 of Article 14.16 of the Administrative Code) entails the imposition of a fine on officials from 20 to 40 thousand rubles with or without confiscation of products; for legal entities - from 100 to 300 thousand rubles with or without confiscation of products.

Sale of beer to minors (Part 2.1 of Article 14.16 of the Administrative Code) entails the imposition of a fine on individuals from 30 to 50 thousand rubles; for officials - from 100 to 200 thousand rubles; for legal entities - from 300 to 500 thousand rubles.

In this case, the matter may not be limited to administrative liability. Art. 151.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes criminal liability for retail sale of alcoholic beverages to minors, committed repeatedly. An act is recognized as such if the seller has already been brought to administrative responsibility for a similar act within 180 days. This article establishes liability in the form of a fine in the amount of fifty thousand to eighty thousand rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of three to six months, or correctional labor for up to one year with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities. activities for a period of up to three years or without it. It should be noted that only an individual can be held liable under this article.

From July 1, 2017, individual entrepreneurs may be prohibited from selling beer at retail. This is reported by “” with reference to a bill prepared by the Ministry of Finance. If the law is passed, it will be a big blow for both small businesses and manufacturers.

Bookmarks

According to the document, the bill proposes amendments to Article 171 of the Federal Law on state regulation of the production and circulation of alcohol. With these amendments, the Ministry of Finance wants to prohibit the sale of beer and beer drinks, cider, poire, and mead in retail outlets owned by individual entrepreneurs. Only organizations will be able to sell these drinks.

As stated in the explanatory note to the bill, the amendments need to be adopted because individual entrepreneurs do not fully declare the volume of retail beer sales. As an example, the authors of the document say that some breweries declared in 2015 several times less volume of beer than was sold at retail.

As the Ministry of Finance explained, this is due to the fact that for individual entrepreneurs the fine for failure to submit declarations is tens of times lower than for legal entities.

In this regard, organizations selling beer and beer drinks, in order to evade liability, enter into fictitious lease agreements with individual entrepreneurs for the sale of these products.

From the explanatory note to the bill

Representatives of brewing companies received such news with caution and bewilderment. As interlocutors from the largest beer producers in Russia told the publication, the decision to ban individual entrepreneurs from selling beer is “far-fetched.”

Moreover, declaring beer sales in itself is “an excessive measure, since since July 2016, all retailers, regardless of their form of ownership, must provide information about its turnover to EGAIS” (the system of state control over the turnover of ethyl alcohol and alcoholic products).

Also, representatives of the beer industry said that when talking about the difference in declarations, the Ministry of Finance did not provide any specific figures and statistics.

If the law banning the retail sale of beer for individual entrepreneurs is adopted, both producers and owners of retail outlets will suffer from it. For example, according to the director of legal affairs at SUN Inbev (Bud, Stella Artois, Staropramen, Klinskoye, etc.) Oraz Durdyev, individual entrepreneurs make up at least 37% of the total volume of the company’s retail outlets. The Baltika brewing company reported that they work with approximately 100 thousand individual entrepreneurs in the beer retail industry.

As company representatives explained, in small retail outlets beer is one of the highest-margin goods. Therefore, through its sale, it is possible to contain prices for socially important products. If individual entrepreneurs are banned from selling beer, this will “seriously hit legal small businesses.”

The stores that specialize in selling beer will be hit the hardest, including popular stores selling beer by the glass. In addition, the adoption of the law will harm small brewing companies that lack the funds to enter large retail chains, and selling products through small retail outlets was their only chance of survival.

In the summer of 2016, the State Duma adopted a law according to which, from the same June 1, 2017, brewing companies will produce beer in plastic bottles with a volume of more than 1.5 liters. Then representatives of the beer industry said that the disappearance of beer in plastic from shelves would lead to an increase in sales of vodka, rather than the use of aluminum cans, as aluminum producers hope.

On September 29, 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Trade reduced the minimum price for vodka to 100 rubles per 0.5 liters. As stated in the department’s report, the state needs to abandon some “excessive and unjustified” restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages.

On October 7, 2016, a bill on a state monopoly on alcohol was submitted to the State Duma. According to legislators, a state monopoly on alcohol will help not only in the fight against surrogacy, but will also bring considerable income to the state.