Ministers to ban cheap discount booze

Friday 05 February 2016

Cheap discount alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences would be banned under new plans being floated by ministers.

The proposals to reform Jersey’s 42-year-old licensing legislation would mean a blanket ban for any discount to alcohol sales – meaning that off-licences have to follow the same rules that pubs, bars and clubs have been following for years.

Supermarkets and off-licences will also end up paying much more for their licences to sell alcohol under the new system.

The proposals have been put forward in a consultation by Assistant Chief Minister Paul Routier and Assistant Economic Development Minister Steve Pallett.

The focus of the reforms is to shift the responsibility for licensing policy away from Royal Court judges and give politicians control of overall policy – under the current arrangement, Jurats make all the decisions about licensing, and politicians cannot intervene.

Senator Routier and Mr Pallett say that the new system will be quicker and more transparent, and better able to react to changes.

Mr Pallett said: “The consultation is the product of a great deal of work on the new Licensing Law, and I hope that the public and the industry will see that we’re tackling the big structural challenges in this area – prices, fees and how licences are decided upon.”

You can look at the full consultation and make a comment here – ministers want as many people as possible to have their say before the deadline on 19 April.

In a statement, the competition regulator has backed the proposals.

The Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authority said: “CICRA is raising a glass at news of the plans to create a new licensing authority and update the licensing laws which date back to 1974 with a view to removing some of the existing restrictions on promotional offers.

“For some time CICRA has conveyed concerns that the current licensing policy could be harming competition and artificially raising prices since it places pub licensees at risk of losing their licence when they compete too strongly on price. The same restrictions do not apply to other alcohol retailers such as supermarkets.”