The Liquor Act 2010 (the Act) commenced 1 December 2010 and replaced the Liquor Act 1975. The main objectives of the Act are to minimise harm associated with the consumption of alcohol, facilitate the responsible development of the liquor and hospitality industries, and to encourage and support consumers to take responsibility for their consumption of alcohol and their behaviour.
Under the new Act there are major changes to:
The Liquor Advisory Board has the function of advising government about matters associated with the operation of the Act. One board member is appointed to represent each of the following groups:
The Commissioner for Fair Trading chairs the Liquor Advisory Board. For further information about the Board's functions please contact the Office of Regulatory Services.
If a person wishes to sell liquor in the A.C.T. and it is not for a private event with less than 30 people, they must have a liquor licence or permit. A licence authorises the holder to sell liquor for consumption on the premises in open containers or off the premises in sealed containers. There are five types of licence:
Along with a completed application form and the prescribed fee, applicants must also provide the following when making an application for a liquor license:
Applicants must also arrange for public consultation for 30 days after making an application, by placing a notice in a daily newspaper and displaying a sign at the proposed premises.
Following are some examples of the newspaper notice and sign:
Following are templates for the newspaper notice and sign:
A licence will not be issued until any public comments received have been considered by the Commissioner for Fair Trading. The Commissioner has up to 90 days to make a decision on a licence application after submission or any requested information has been provided.
There are two types of permits that can be applied for if a limited amount of liquor is to be sold at a single premises. A commercial permit is for an event and a non-commercial permit is for a not for profit organisation and may apply to a specific event if relevant.
Along with a completed application form and the prescribed fee, applicants must also provide the following when making application for a commercial permit:
Whether an event will be considered as such for a commercial permit application will depend upon a range of factors including:
An event must occur within a discrete, short timeframe and will usually be required to occur over consecutive days if more than a single day. A name for the event must be provided, and will help guide you in determining whether your application is for a single event or multiple events. If an event will regularly run over non-consecutive days at a single premises, you should contact the Office of Regulatory Services to discuss whether a single permit may be appropriate and its duration.
For example, a trader who sells liquor at a stall at the same market every Sunday could lodge their application for a single event as it is regular, predictable and at the same location, and would require a RAMP. Two festivals held on consecutive weekends by the same promoter would require separate permits as the names of the events are different and there is no regularity to the initial event.
If a licensee consistently applies for a commercial permit for the purpose of holding an event after their times, they will be required to submit an application for amendment of their licence and will have to pay additional licence fees. As licensees already have regular licensed times, the permits are to be used for infrequent, irregular events that occur over a short period of time.
For licensed premises where liquor is consumed on the premises (general, on, club or special licences) or commercial permit premises, the licensee or permit holder must complete a Risk Assessment Management Plan (RAMP). A RAMP is a plan that details procedures, practices and arrangements of conducting the business of selling liquor at the premises, and includes anything prescribed by Regulation.
Examples of what a RAMP may contain are:
You may use the Risk Assessment Management Plan (RAMP) form to develop your RAMP, and refer to the Guide to Completeing a Risk Assessment Management Plan (RAMP) to assist you.
Licensees and commercial permit holders (excluding influential persons of a corporation who do not supply liquor), employees supplying liquor and crowd controllers will be required to have successfully completed an A.C.T. approved Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training course by 1 June 2012. This is a six month extension to the previous date of 1 December 2011. Persons who have completed an unapproved RSA course (in any jurisdiction) since 1 June 2010 will not need to complete an approved course until 1 June 2013. RSA training will be required every three years if you are:
For a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) to be approved to conduct a RSA training program in the A.C.T. they must first have the course content (which must include coverage of specific A.C.T. legislative requirements) approved by the Commissioner for Fair Trading. The Liquor (Responsible Service of Alcohol Training Course Approval) Guidelines 2011 (No 1) has been developed to assist RTOs in determining what is required to have an RSA training program approved by the Commissioner. It is recommended that all RTOs intending to seek approval read the Guidelines before submitting an Application for an RSA Training Program Approval.
Applications for approval are now being accepted and the current list of Registered Training Organisations Approved to Conduct Responsible Service of Alcohol Training in the A.C.T. is also available.
All course approvals are dependent upon the RTO maintaining current registration with the Australian Skills Quality Authority. Any change in registration status must be notified to the Office of Regulatory Services at liquor@act.gov.au.
A close associate of a licensee or permit holder is someone who holds or will hold an executive position in the licensee's or permit holder's business. A close associate is also someone who is able to exercise significant influence on the conduct of the business because they hold a financial interest, or have directorial, managerial or executive decision making power in the licensee's or permit holder's business.
An influential person for a corporation includes any person who is the following:
For licence applications, police certificates issued no longer than three months prior to the application being made must be provided for:
If the licensee is to be a corporation a police check must also be provided for that corporation.
The person with day-to-day control must have the authority to make decisions about the business in the absence of the licensee. It does not include people employed to do a specific job such as a duty manager or premises manager. They must have authority regarding the conduct of the business.
If you applied for a Young People's Event a police certificate must be supplied for every person who will, or is likely to, work at the event even if one has previously been provided.
A police check is not required in an application for a permit. The Commissioner may, however, request any person named in the applciation to obtain a police check, not older than three months, to allow him to make a decision.
The Act requires licensees and permit-holders to keep an incident register and specifies the information to be included in the register. As an employee you may have to fill in the register if there is an incident or bring an incident to your employer's attention.
Incidents that must be noted in the register include:
The incident register must be kept on the premises, be bound, and pages individually numbered. Pages should not be removed from the incident register. You may use a 'day-to-a-page' diary, however you may also use the Incident Register - Template as an example.
The requirements for the provision of liquor purchase information will change from November 2011. From November 2011 only off licensees will be required to provide to the Commissioner for Fair Trading with the gross wholesale price paid for liquor purchased during the financial year, within one month of the end of each financial year. The gross purchase price includes duties or taxes, but not freight or packaging costs. The value of purchases, the name and address of each wholesaler from whom liquor was purchased must be provided. The volume of liquor purchased does not have to be provided.
If you have a number of premises and jointly purchase liquor for the premises and cannot separate the data to report on the purchase data for each premises please contact the Office of Regulatory Services. The ORS will generally accept this combined data where you are paying the highest licence fee for each licence. A Liquor Purchase Information - Template has been developed for this purpose.
Changes have been made to the Liquor Sales Reporting requirements to the Chief Health Officer. Now only Off licensees who sell by wholesale will be required to provide the liquor sales information on the Liquor Sales Reporting - Template which has been developed for this purpose. This information is to be sent via email to aodpolicy@act.gov.au or via post to the Chief Health Officer, Alcohol and Other Drug Policy Unit, Policy and Government Relations, GPO Box 825 Canberra City ACT 2601. The first submission of data by Off licensees who are wholesalers is due 31 July 2012, and will continue on an annual basis, with wholesale liquor sales data reporting due July 31 each year.
An adults only area is an area determined by the Commissioner for Fair Trading when deciding an application for a licence or permit. Unless a person is supervised by a parent, guardian or carer, only people over 18 years of age may remain in an adults only area. No person under 18 years of age may supply liquor in an adults only area.
A licensee or permit-holder will be committing an offence if they employ a person under 18 years of age and that person supplies liquor and the liquor is supplied in an adults only area of the licensed or permitted premises.
A person under 18 years of age may work in an adults only area if they are not supplying liquor to patrons. A person under 18 years of age may serve liquor to patrons who are not in an adults only area, for example, with a meal in a restaurant if the restaurant is not in an adults only area.
If an employer wishes to employ any person under 15 years of age to supply liquor in any area, other than an adults only area, they must apply to the Chief Executive for a high risk employment permit in accordance with the Children and Young People Act 2008.
There are a number of types of information that licensees and permit holders are required to keep including:
Top
