Retail of self-produced alcoholic beverages – Permits for on-farm sales

Draft Act amending the Alcohol Act (2010:1622)

A provision is to be introduced in Chapter 5, Section 2, second paragraph, of the Alcohol Act to the effectthat holders of on-farm sales permits may retail self-produced alcoholic beverages in accordance with theprovisions of the proposed new Chapter 5a of the Alcohol Act on on-farm sales.

The new Chapter 5a contains, inter alia, provisions on the requirements and conditions for being granted anon-farm sales permit.
On-farm sales permits may only be granted to independent producers who produce alcoholic beverages ontheir own and on a professional basis. The producer’s annual production shall not exceed 75,000 litres ofspirits, 400,000 litres of fermented alcoholic beverages up to 10 % alcohol by volume, and 200,000 litres offermented alcoholic beverages with more than 10 % alcohol by volume. Producers of wine shall also producethe wine from grapes exclusively from their own plantations.
On-farm sales may be made from only one point of sale, which is the place where the majority of the alcoholicbeverages have been produced. For producers of wine, the point of sale may alternatively be the place wherethe majority of the grapes have been grown.
On-farm sales may only be made to consumers taking part in a visit which has been organised by the holder ofthe permit and is related to the alcoholic beverage in question. The visit shall be conducted in close proximityto the point of sale. The visit shall have an awareness-raising element and a certain duration and shall beprovided to consumers against payment.
On-farm sales to each individual consumer during a single visit must not exceed 0.7 litres of spirits, three litresof wine, three litres of strong beer and three litres of other fermented alcoholic beverages. The price of thealcoholic beverages and of the visit shall not be lower than the cost of production or cost price plus areasonable mark-up.
In addition, Chapter 5a contains provisions on the permit procedure, self-monitoring and the provision ofinformation, time limits on permits, limited times for sales, and requirements for informing about the harmfuleffects of alcohol.
Chapter 8, Section 7, second paragraph of the Alcohol Act is to stipulate that holders of on-farm sales permitsmay also conduct tastings of the self-produced alcoholic beverages.
Chapter 9 of the Alcohol Act is to stipulate that certain rules on supervision should also apply to on-farm sales.
The general provisions of the Alcohol Act concerning, for example, age limits and criminal liability also apply toon-farm sales.