A week ago, we described how Platforms transferred legal liability for selling alcohol to minors or drunks to Suppliers. And that Platforms will become a popular method to circumvent the night ban on selling alcohol in shops in Warsaw (see here).
We asked Janek Śpiewak, among others, for a comment on this situation (see here).
After publication, we received the statement of the Warsaw City Hall.
Based on the Act of October 26, 1982 on sobriety education and counteracting alcoholism, the Municipal Council may establish, for the entire municipality or indicated auxiliary units, a limit on the night-time sale of alcoholic beverages intended for consumption outside the place of sale (shops). The limit may apply to sales conducted between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and may not go beyond the regulations specified in the Act.
Referring to the sale of alcoholic beverages via Internet Platforms, with delivery to the customer, it should be noted that in accordance with the above Act, the condition for conducting the sale of alcoholic beverages is the performance of business activity within the scope of the permit only by the entrepreneur indicated therein and only in the place specified in the permit. Alcohol may be issued only in a store whose owner has a permit to sell alcoholic beverages. The transfer of ownership of the item occurs at the moment of transfer of possession of the item, i.e. its delivery to the buyer. Therefore, delivery (e.g. by courier) of an alcoholic beverage to the place indicated by the customer (regardless of the form of payment, method of placing the order, or place of issue of the sales confirmation) is the sale of alcoholic beverages outside the point indicated in the permit. This is the basis for withdrawing the permit.
The Ministry of Health is of the opinion that enabling the sale of alcoholic beverages via the Internet would increase the availability and expansion of sales channels for alcoholic beverages, which from the point of view of public health should be assessed negatively. According to the Ministry, the current regulations do not allow this form of alcohol distribution. This is also confirmed by the National Center for Combating Addictions.