UK licenced premises to prepare for October introduction of new Mandatory Code
The UK Wine & Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) is urging the drinks trade there to be ready for new rules requiring all licensed premises to have an age verification policy in place and to offer small drink measures to their customers.?The new rules come into force on October 1st as part of the Mandatory Code on alcohol retailing introduced by the previous Government.
They require that:??
* All licensed premises must have an age verification policy in
place that ensures anyone who appears to staff to be under 18
is asked to show photographic ID with their date of birth and a
holographic mark on it before they are served alcohol
?* All licensed premises provide and make customers aware (on
menus or when ordering) of the following measures:
? + Still wine in a glass: 125 ml
+ Gin, rum, vodka and whisky: 25 ml or 35 ml (depending on the measure you normally serve)
+ Beer and cider: half a pint.?
The possibility of scrapping this Mandatory Code is among the options currently being considered as part of the Coalition Government’s consultation on licensing. ?However officials have indicated that there’s more pressure to reconsider the age verification requirement due to the high associated compliance costs than to revisit the issue of small drink measures.?In the meantime both new rules come into force on October 1st as originally planned.?WSTA Chief Executive Jeremy Beadles commented, "It’s vital businesses are aware of these changes and ready to comply when they come into force. I’d also urge businesses, which want to see Mandatory Code conditions affecting them overturned, to respond directly to the Government’s licensing consultation with evidence of the cost imposed on their business”.
