Self-produced alcoholic beverages (farm sales authorisation)

Small-scale production of alcoholic beverages (farm sales authorisation)

Proposal for an act amending the Alcohol Act (2010:1622) (Förslag till lag om ändring i alkohollagen (2010:1622)); (8 page(s), in Swedish)

The proposal is that a provision be introduced in Chapter 5, Section 2, second paragraph, of the Alcohol Act that allows a person with farm sales authorisation to retail self-produced alcoholic beverages pursuant to the provisions in the Alcohol Act's proposed new Chapter 5a on farm sales. The new Chapter 5a includes provisions on requirements and conditions to be granted authorisation for farm sales. Farm sales authorisation can only be granted to independent manufacturers that professionally produce alcoholic beverages themselves. The manufacturers' annual production rates cannot exceed 75 000 litres of spirit drinks, 400 000 litres of fermented alcoholic beverages of up to 10 per cent alcohol by volume, or 200 000 litres fermented alcoholic beverages of more than 10 per cent alcohol by volume. Manufacturers of wine should also produce their wine exclusively from grapes from their own vines. Farm sales may only be conducted from a commercial site, which is the location where the majority of the alcoholic beverages were produced. The commercial site for wine manufacturers could alternatively be the location where the majority of the grapes were grown. Farm sales are only permitted to consumers who take part in visits arranged by the permit holder in relation to the relevant alcoholic beverage. The visit must be conducted in close proximity to the commercial site. The visit must have an educational component, and be of a certain duration and offered to consumers for a fee. For farm sales, the sales to each individual consumer on each visit may not exceed 0.7 litres of spirit drinks, 3 litres of wine, 3 litres strong beer or 3 litres of other fermented alcoholic beverages. The price of the alcoholic beverages and the visit may not be lower than the cost of production and prime cost respectively, in addition to a reasonable mark-up. Furthermore, Chapter 5a includes provisions on the permit procedure, self-monitoring and submission of information, permit time restrictions, limited times of sale and requirements for information on the harmful effects of alcohol.

In Chapter 8, Section 7, second paragraph, of the Alcohol Act, the proposal states that those who have farm sales authorisation be allowed to offer tastings of the self-produced alcoholic beverages. In Chapter 9 of the Alcohol Act, the proposal states that certain rules on monitoring should apply to farm sales as well. The general provisions on age limits and criminal liability in the Alcohol Act also apply to farm sales.