Alcohol purchased on the Internet can be delivered no sooner than six hours from the moment of ordering

The proposal sets an exception for alcoholic beverages in which the absolute amount of alcohol does not exceed 15 percent by volume.

The sale of alcohol by distance contract was introduced during Covid-19.

The deputies initially wanted to impose a complete ban on the sale of alcohol on the Internet. The parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Economy (ME) Jurģis Miezainis (ZZS) claimed that it is impossible to ban it completely, otherwise it would be possible to violate the European Union directive, which defines the general regime for the application of excise tax, in which there are no exceptions in relation to alcohol, but there are exceptions in relation to tobacco products, meaning that the requirements of the directive are binding.

On the other hand, the parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Health (MoH) Artjoms Uršulskis (JV) rejected the statement of the representative of the Ministry of Health, stressing that the Ministry of Health has turned to the European Commission, which has replied that in the specific case, the question of whether a member state may or may not restrict sales is not within the scope of the directive. We have the right to decide for ourselves, emphasized Uršulskis.

The alcoholic beverage industry, expressing its opinion on the sale of alcohol on the Internet, claimed that such sale is safe, because the person’s identification is checked twice – at the time of purchase and at the time of receipt. The industry also emphasized that the possible ban would be felt most painfully by small producers in Latvia.