Policy recommendations to restrict access to and availability of alcoholic beverages

Restrict availability of alcohol

• Enforce restrictions on sales, on availability and on marketing likely to influence young people
• Enforce restrictions on alcohol availability to protect young people
• Enforce licensing to effectively prevent alcohol-related harm among adults and reduce the negative impact on the workplace

• Interventions that focus on single settings, such as those solely targeting schools or families rather than the whole environment, provide inconclusive evidence about their effectiveness in decreasing the harm derived from consuming alcohol.
• Multipronged interventions that tackle the acceptability, availability and affordability driving alcohol consumption are most effective in reducing young people’s exposure to alcogenic environments.
• Partnerships among many stakeholders ensure widespread advocacy, design, implementation and enforcement of initiatives that address upstream the causes of the harm caused by alcohol consumption.
   

• Enacting and enforcing restrictions on commercial or public availability of alcohol by implementing licensing systems to monitor the production, wholesale, sales, including delivery, and serving of alcoholic beverages; regulating the number, density and location of retail alcohol outlets; regulating the hours and days during which alcohol may be sold; establishing a national legal minimum age for purchase and consumption of alcohol; and restricting the use of alcohol in public places.

• Restrict alcoholic beverage availability is among the best buys to cost-effectively reduce harmful alcohol use, deaths and disabilities at a population level. This can be achieved by introducing a licensing system on retail sales or public health oriented government monopolies.

• Restrict the operation of alcohol outlets, in particular by regulating:
  • the number and location of Retail sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises where the beverages are purchased (e.g., bars, restaurants).  and Retail sale of sealed containers of alcoholic beverages for consumption elsewhere than the premises where the beverages are purchased.  alcohol outlets
  • the days and hours of retail sales
  • the modes of retail sales of alcohol
  • retail sales in certain places or during special events
• Set policies restricting 'drinking in public places or at official public agencies’ activities and functions'.

• Regulate alcohol outlet density, through outlet licensing or zoning processes.
• Limit the days and hours during which alcohol can be sold, both applied to on-premise alcohol sales and off-premises alcohol sales.
• Resist further privatization of retail alcohol sales in communities with current government control.

• Reduce access to retail outlets for specified periods of the week. 

Address illicit/ informal alcohol

• Adopt 'policies to reduce and eliminate availability of illicit production, sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages as well as to regulate or control informal alcohol.'
• Develop good quality control with regard to production and distribution of alcoholic beverages to prevent consumption of illicitly produced alcohol.

Minimum legal purchase age

• Enforce age limits for selling and serving alcohol.

• Establish a national legal minimum age for purchase and consumption of alcohol.

• Establish an appropriate minimum age for purchase or consumption of alcoholic beverages.
• Establish policies to prevent sales to those below the legal age, including the introduction of mechanisms for placing liability on sellers and servers.

• Enhance enforcement of laws prohibiting sales to minors, reducing youth access to alcohol.

Taxation/fiscal measures

• Increasing alcoholic beverage excise taxes is among the best buys to cost-effectively reduce harmful alcohol use, deaths and disabilities at a population level.
• Establish a system for specific domestic taxation on alcohol accompanied by an effective enforcement system, which may take into account, as appropriate, the alcoholic content of the beverage.
• Reduce or stop subsidies to economic operators in the area of alcohol.
• Regulate sales of informally produced alcohol and bring it into the taxation system.
• Develop an efficient control and enforcement system, including tax stamps.

• Alcohol pricing policies and alcohol taxation are among the most effective and cost–effective measures to reduce alcohol consumption and harms, but they are also the most underutilized.
• There is potential for minimum prices to be used in combination with other complementary policies, including taxation, to reduce harm and increase government tax revenue. Minimum prices should therefore be considered as complementary to taxation, not as an alternative. Although minimum prices may lead to increases in unrecorded alcohol consumption, these can be prevented through targeted measures.

Raise prices on alcohol through excise taxes and pricing policies, by:

• establishing a system for specific domestic taxation on alcohol, accompanied by an effective enforcement system which may take into account, as appropriate, the alcoholic content of the beverage; 
• increasing excise taxes on alcoholic beverages and regularly reviewing prices in relation to the level of inflation and income; […]

• Increase alcohol taxes and therefore prices to reduce levels of excessive consumption and related health harms.

• Increase alcohol taxes.
• In settings with higher levels of unrecorded production and consumption, increase the proportion of consumption that is taxed.

Pricing

• Enforce pricing policies (e.g. reducing "two-drinks-for-one" offers) to effectively prevent alcohol-related harm among adults and reduce the negative impact on the workplace.

Raise prices on alcohol through excise taxes and pricing policies, by:

• [...]
• banning or restricting the use of direct and indirect price promotions, discount sales, sales below cost, and flat rates for unlimited alcohol consumption or other types of volume sales; 
• establishing minimum prices for alcohol, where applicable; 
• providing price incentives for non-alcoholic beverages; and 
• reducing or stopping subsidies to economic operators in the area of alcohol.
   

• Regularly review prices in relation to level of inflation and income.
• Ban or restrict the use of direct and indirect price A form of non-personal sales promotional efforts that are designed to have an immediate impact on sales. This form of promotion uses media and non-media marketing communications for a limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand, or increase product availability. Examples of consumer promotion include coupons, discounts and sales, contests, point of purchase displays, rebates, and gifts and incentive items. Consumer promotion is also called sales promotion. , discount sales, sales below cost and flat rates for unlimited drinking or other types of volume sales.
• Establish minimum prices for alcohol where applicable.
• Provide price incentives for non-alcoholic beverages.

Marketing restrictions

• Enforce restrictions on marketing likely to influence young people
• Prevent irresponsible marketing of alcoholic beverages.

Enforce bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship and promotion by:

• Enact and enforece bans or comprehensive restrictions on exposure to alcohol advertising by setting up regulatory or co-regulatory frameworks, preferably with a legislative basis, and supporting them when appropriate by self-regulatory measures that contribute in particular to eliminating the marketing and advertising of alcoholic products to minors,
• public agencies or independent bodies can develop effective systems of surveillance of marketing of alcohol products; and
• Set up effective administrative and deterrence systems for infringements of marketing restrictions. 
   

• Measures to control the harmful use of alcohol need to emphasize protecting children through effective population-level measures and regulatory frameworks such as comprehensive advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans. These are among the best buys to cost-effectively reduce harmful alcohol use, deaths and disabilities. Such regulatory frameworks can regulate:
  • the content and the volume of marketing;
  • direct or indirect marketing in certain or all media;
  • sponsorship activities that promote alcoholic beverages;
  • restricting or banning promotions in connection with activities targeting young people;
  • new forms of alcohol marketing techniques, for instance use of social media.

• 'Legislation restricting marketing aimed at children of […] drinks with alcohol […] (e.g. on TV, internet, social media and on food packages) is recommended.'

• Restrict youth exposure to advertising of alcoholic beverages.
• In addition, 'ASCO supports efforts to eliminate pinkwashing in the marketing of alcoholic beverages. Pinkwashing is a form of cause marketing in which a company uses the color pink and/or pink ribbons to show a commitment to finding a cure for breast cancer.'

• Implement a fully enforced, comprehensive advertising ban

Reformulation

• Promote reduction in the alcoholic strength of different beverage categories.

Labelling and health warnings

• Introduce warning and/or information labels on alcoholic beverages with information 'both on ingredients and on the risks associated with alcohol consumption: damage to health (cirrhosis of the liver, cancers), risk of dependence, and dangers associated with drinking alcohol when pregnant, driving a vehicle, operating machinery and taking certain medications.'

Public health campaigns

• Ensure broad access to information and effective education and public awareness programmes about alcohol-related harm as well as the need for, and existence of, effective preventive measures.

Community action and education

• Implement broad health and life-skills education programmes, beginning in early childhood and ideally continued throughout adolescence.
• Workplace- based information/education campaigns and provision of care to employees with alcohol-related problems.
• Use 'server training' programmes to prevent alcohol-related harm among adults and reduce the negative impact on the workplace.

Community action and education

• Mobilise communities to prevent under-age drinking by limiting sales to and consumption by those below the legal age,  and by developing and supporting  alcohol-free environments, especially for youth and other at-risk groups.

Healthcare sector action

• Ensure doctors and/or nurses in primary health care provide advice and treatment to people at risk.

Facilitate access to screening, brief interventions and treatment, by:

• Increasing the capacity of health and social welfare systems to deliver prevention, treatment and care for alcohol use disorders, alcohol-induced disorders and comorbid conditions,
• Support initiatives for screening and brief interventions for hazardous and harmful alcohol intake in primary health care and other settings. Such initiatives should include early identification and management of alcohol use – especially heavy alcohol intake – among pregnant women and women of childbearing age;
• Develop and coordinate strategies and services for integrated and/or linked prevention, treatment and care of alcohol use disorders and comorbid conditions – including drug use disorders, depression, suicides, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; and
• Provide universal access to health– including through enhanced availability, accessibility and affordability of treatment services for groups of low socioeconomic status.
   

• Improve 'capacity for prevention of, identification of, and interventions for individuals and families living with fetal alcohol syndrome and a spectrum of associated disorders.'

Illicit production

• Develop or strengthen tracking and tracing systems for illicit alcohol.
• Ensure 'necessary cooperation and exchange of relevant information on combating illicit alcohol among authorities at national and international levels.'

Marketing

• Monitor the impact of self-regulatory marketing codes in young people's drinking and industry compliance with such codes.

• Develop effective systems of surveillance of marketing of alcohol products by public agencies or independent bodies.
• Set up effective administrative and deterrence systems for infringements on marketing restrictions.

Surveillance

• Establish publicly funded alcohol research and monitoring programmes.

• Harmonise alcohol survey research across Europe and ensure sustainability of standardised alcohol surveys.