{"id":94199,"date":"2015-07-27T08:41:14","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T06:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=94199"},"modified":"2015-07-27T08:59:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T06:59:44","slug":"govt-pushing-ahead-with-tighter-alcohol-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/94199\/govt-pushing-ahead-with-tighter-alcohol-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt pushing ahead with tighter alcohol laws"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Trade and Industry is pushing ahead with its plans to raise the legal drinking age in South Africa from 18 to 21 years.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement was first made in May 2015, with the proposed regulations intending to curb alcohol abuse in the country.<\/p>\n<p>On 29 July the department will hold a seminar to meet with &#8220;representatives of the liquor industry\u201a survivors of liquor abuse and alcoholics\u201a academics\u201a researchers\u201a non-profit organisations\u201a and people working in the health and social development environment&#8221; to discuss ways to curb liquor abuse, according to Times Live.<\/p>\n<p>The department has also proposed restrictions on liquor advertising and prohibiting sponsorship, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>The proposals include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Raising the legal limit to buy and consume alcohol from 18 to 21 years of age.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Preventing liquor sales from any outlet which is within 500 metres of a school, place of worship, recreation facilities, rehabilitation or treatment centres, residential areas and public institutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The proposals also suggest that no liquor licenses will be issued to petrol service stations, premises attached to petrol service stations or premises near public transport.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Existing liquor licence holders who operate one of these outlets can expect to lose that licence within the next 2 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Standardisation of opening hours throughout the country to control access to liquor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A call to restrict the advertising of alcoholic beverages, prohibiting sponsorship and promotion associated with alcoholic beverages. These restrictions would be determined by the Minister of Trade and Industry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Proposal to make manufacturers and distributors of alcohol responsible and liable for damages and harm caused if a person drinks to excess and is then involved in a car accident or a crime.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Proposal that a government-managed fund responsible for combating alcohol abuse be established.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Proposal for transformation in the \u201cpredominantly white-owned\u201d industry, specifically in terms of BEE and the adoption of the amended BBBEE Codes of Good Practice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.za\/sites\/www.gov.za\/files\/38808_gen446.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">full proposals can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">More on alcohol<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to The best wines in South Africa\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/91516\/the-best-wines-in-south-africa\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The best wines in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to Most expensive whisky in SA\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/general\/70909\/most-expensive-whisky-in-sa\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Most expensive whisky in SA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to The world\u2019s biggest wine producers\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/international\/86672\/the-worlds-biggest-wine-producers\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The world\u2019s biggest wine producers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to The world\u2019s biggest drinking nations\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/international\/57317\/the-worlds-biggest-drinking-nations\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The world\u2019s biggest drinking nations<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Trade and Industry is pushing ahead with its plans to raise the legal drinking age in South Africa from 18 to 21 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":51851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[6668,26],"class_list":["post-94199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-alcohol","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94201,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94199\/revisions\/94201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}