The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation once again proposes to raise to 21 the age from which Russian citizens can buy strong alcohol. The Agency has prepared the relevant amendments to the federal law ” On state regulation of the production and turnover of ethyl alcohol…”raquo;, report « News».
What is the essence of the bill?
The Ministry of Health proposes to ban the sale of alcohol with an alcohol content of more than 16.5% to people under 21 years of age. The bill provides that this measure will come into force from March 2022.
According to the current legislation, alcoholic beverages are allowed to be sold to citizens who have reached the age of 18. In case of doubt about the majority of the buyer, the seller has the right to ask him for a document confirming the age (passport, passport, driver’s license, service passport, etc.).
Why do they want to raise the age of sale of strong alcohol?
The Ministry of Health proposed to raise the age of sale of strong alcohol in 2019. Then in the secretariat Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova they referred to the statement of American experts that the increase in the age threshold was one of the main reasons for the decrease in mortality from road accidents in the United States.
However, in 2019, the financial and economic bloc of the Russian government criticized this bill. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development stated that the proposal of the Ministry of Health contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states that citizens from the age of 18 can fully exercise their rights and obligations. In addition, the Ministry of Energy conducted an assessment of the regulatory impact of the draft law and came to the conclusion that raising the age of sale of strong alcohol will complicate the work of stores: cashiers will have to spend time not only not determining the age of the buyer, but also finding out the strength of the alcohol sold.
Meanwhile, an important change has taken place over the past two years. In July 2021, President Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the law “On Weapons”, which raised the age of purchase of firearms of limited destruction, hunting and long-barreled weapons for self-defense from 18 to 21 years. This allowed the Ministry of Health to once again take the initiative to raise the age limit for the sale of strong alcohol.
In the explanatory note to the new bill, the Ministry of Health refers to medical studies that have shown that alcohol consumption is unsafe for the normal development of the brain. This organ is finally formed only by the age of 21, and until that time it is vulnerable to poisoning by alcohol, drugs or other psychoactive substances. Alcohol consumption before the age of 21 can cause serious negative consequences, in particular, it can lead to long-term deterioration of cognitive abilities, the authors of the bill write.
Many countries have taken into account the conclusions of doctors, forming their own regulation of the turnover of alcoholic beverages. The age of sale of any alcohol or strong alcohol up to 20 years has been increased in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Japan, and up to 21 years in the United States.
At what stage is the consideration of the draft law?
On August 3, the Ministry of Health sent a letter to the participants of the working group on the “regulatory guillotine” with a request to evaluate the draft law. If the working group agrees on the document, it will be submitted for examination by one of the government’s sub-commissions on improving control and licensing functions. If this sub-commission approves the draft law of the Ministry of Health, it will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers commission on legislative activity. A decision will be made here whether to submit the project to the State Duma or not.
Sources: iz.ru, Federal Law “On state regulation of production and turnover of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products and on restriction of consumption (drinking) of alcoholic products” of 22.11.1995 N 171-FZ, Order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation of 31.05.2017 N 1728 “On approval of the list of documents allowing to establish the age of the buyer of alcoholic products, which the seller has the right to demand in case of doubt that this buyer has reached the age of majority”.