Poland plans to further tighten rules on alcohol sales for under 18s

The Polish government has decided to further strengthen its laws on alcohol sales in a bid to prevent minors from purchasing drinks late at night at 24/7 stores such as petrol stations.

The new rules are in response to rising reports of car crashes and other accidents involving youth under the influence of alcohol.

The sale of alcohol to minors is illegal in Poland, punishable with a stiff fine or a month’s detention. However, under current regulations, vendors are authorised — but not obliged — to check the buyer’s documents for their age. Now, it will now be compulsory to do so.

The measures will also ban the sale of alcohol between 10 pm and 6 am at petrol stations, where it is currently available around the clock.

“The sellers will have to be more attentive and responsible in their role,” Poland’s Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna told Polish radio channel Radio Zet on Thursday. The work on the new regulations was almost complete and will be expedited, Leszczyna ensured.

Booze resembling children’s snacks causes uproar

The sale of alcohol to minors has been a hot topic in Poland. Earlier this week, Poland’s deputy health minister resigned over his failure to ban a range of squeezable alcohol-filled pouches that resemble children’s snacks from supermarket shelves.

The drink — called Voodoo Monkey — is owned by Owolovo, a Polish firm that otherwise produces various non-alcoholic fruit drinks and snacks in tubes. The company has since apologised and announced the product will be discontinued.

Szymon Hołownia, the speaker of Polish parliament branded the product as “pure evil” in a Facebook post shared on Monday.

Hangovers and hangups

This is not the first time that Poland has been embroiled in a heated debate around alcohol.

Back in 2022, Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the right-wing populist Law and Justice – and former Deputy prime minister – sparked controversy after he blamed the country’s low birth rate on women’s consumption of alcohol.

“If, for example, the situation remains such that, until the age of 25, girls, young women, drink the same amount as their peers, there will be no children,” Kaczynski told supporters at a political rally ahead of the 2022 presidential campaign.

The comments sparked outrage from women’s rights groups, many of whom instead pointed to Warsaw’s highly restrictive abortion policy as a factor influencing this trend.

Kaczyński’s Law and Justice, or PiS party, was subsequently ousted from power by a centrist alliance formed by the Civic Coalition and two other smaller political groups last year.

However, alcoholic drinks remain popular in the eastern European country despite the criticism. Poland ranked as Europe’s third biggest beer producer in 2023, according to a Eurostat. survey, with the country also being a major exporter of vodka.

This is a highly lucrative industry, with tax from alcohol sales bringing some 13 billion zlotys (€3 billion) into the state coffers.

Although alcohol consumption has generally dropped by 0.6 litres between 2010 and 2020 in Europe, in Poland for the same period it rose by 1 litre per year for individuals aged over 15 years old.

However, according to experts, the losses incurred by premature deaths, absenteeism and accidents are much higher.

Additional sources • AP