New liquor licence rules kick in April 1

A new liquor licence regime that promises to cut the wait time for licences and offer seasonal licences, and will see the minimum age for purchasing alcohol raised from 16 to 18, will go into effect on Friday.

Minister of Energy and Business Development, Kerrie Symmonds made that disclosure on Wednesday as he discussed the pending changes to take effect under the Liquor Licences Act 2021 which modernises the system for the issuing of liquor licences to include online application and payment and regulates the sale and supply of alcohol.

Speaking at a press conference at his Baobab Towers office, Symmonds said outdated laws covering the sale of liquor desperately required change to reflect that “the sale of liquor in Barbados is a reputable commercial activity”.

“We have been functioning under a 1957 colonial construct which sees the liquor licences administration in Barbados in a context of controlling of liquor and making the business associated with the sale of liquor very onerous and very difficult,” he said.

Symmonds says the criminal measures attached to the old system – fines of just over $2,000 and/or three months in jail – were too severe, considering the legitimacy of the sale of such products in Barbados, and needed to be corrected.

Under the new regime, licences are also available to business owners wanting to sell liquor in frequent entertainment areas or during seasonal activities.

“We are at a stage now where we are talking about facilitating growth, where we are talking about making sure that this new regime is able to provide entertainment licences, as to end the agony of those folks who, for example, under the old system, were forced to go on a weekly basis to renew a liquor licence,” Symmonds explained.

“I speak, for example, about the people in Oistins Bay Garden who would have gone week after week, weekend after weekend to get an occasional licence to do that which they do. Now they can have an entertainment licence that allows them to function far more fluidly and effectively for a prolonged period of time.

“Equally, the new regime will speak to seasonal licences, and that helps us develop the entertainment industry in Barbados, and it helps us to mesh the festivals that we have and the sporting occasions with the opportunity for people who wish to sell alcohol during those types of periods,” he added.

Another important change made was raising the minimum age for alcohol consumption from 16 to 18 years.

“The National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) has, according to my information, for the last 20 to 30 years been trying to get governments successively in Barbados to reset the legal age at which we can sell alcohol. When this legislation comes into effect on Friday, the age of sale of alcohol, the age of consumption of alcohol by minors will now be 18 years of age.

“So, gone forever, we hope, are the days where 16-year-olds will be sent to the shop to procure alcohol, or will be employed in the business of sale of alcohol, or be associated with the consumption or sale of alcohol legally,” Symmonds said.

Acting Director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Bertram Johnson said payment of liquor licences will be facilitated online via a new portal but will also be allowed in cash at nine of the island’s post offices.

He said that for the next two weeks, digital ambassadors will be stationed at those post offices and via the online portal to help persons with the new payment process. (SB)