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Revised regulation will still prevent liquor sale at minimarkets
A supermarket attendant in Jakarta arranges bottles of liquor
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A supermarket attendant in Jakarta arranges bottles of liquor. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
The regional administrations will soon be authorized to establish tourist areas that will be allowed to sell liquor with up to five percent alcohol content, otherwise known as Group A liquor. However, the liquor will not be sold in any minimarket, an official said.
Such relaxations on liquor regulations would be stipulated in the revised Domestic Trade Director General Regulation on Technical Guidelines for the Distribution, Sale and Control of Group A Alcoholic Beverages. The report should be public soon.
'The point is that the director general for domestic trade will authorize local governments to set up areas with their own regulations that will regulate liquor sales,' director general for domestic trade Srie Agustina said as reported by Antara News Agency on Wednesday.
But Srie stressed that this new regulation does not mean that Group A alcoholic beverages could be sold in all minimarkets because it is still regulated by Trade Minister Regulation No. 20/M-DAG/4/ 2014 on the Control and Supervision of the Production, Distribution and Sale of Alcoholic Beverages.
'The director general regulation will only allow for the sale of liquor in tourist areas. It could be outside tourist areas, but such a distribution arrangement should have license permits from the regent or the major. But the sale will not be at minimarkets,' Srie said.
She said that some regions stated they did not need Group A alcoholic beverages for their people. Those regions include Bandung, Depok and other cities in West Java.
There are nine alcoholic beverages circulated in Indonesia categorized in Group A: shandy, alcoholic soft drinks, beer, lager, ale, stout, wine, carbonated alcoholic beverages and Balinese brem liquor.
This relaxation is part of the Economic Policy Package launched by the government on September 9. The purposes of this relaxation is to improve the industry by removing the distortions that burden consumers. (edn/bbn)
