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Mandatory Conditions

The new mandatory conditions commenced on the 6th of April, these conditions impose a duty on those who manage licensed premises and clubs to prohibit irresponsible promotions and prohibit one person from dispensing alcohol directly into the mouth of another; they also require those who manage licensed premises and clubs to provide free tap water to customers on request.

For further information on the new mandatory conditions please also refer to Home Office guidance.

The new mandatory conditions are as follows:

1.—(1) The responsible person shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that staff on relevant premises do not carry out, arrange or participate in any irresponsible promotions in relation to the premises.

(2) In this paragraph, an irresponsible promotion means any one or more of the following activities, or substantially similar activities, carried on for the purpose of encouraging the sale or supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises in a manner which carries a significant risk of leading or contributing to crime and disorder, prejudice to public safety, public nuisance, or harm to children–

(a) games or other activities which require or encourage, or are designed to require or encourage, individuals to–

(i) drink a quantity of alcohol within a time limit (other than to drink alcohol sold or supplied on the premises before the cessation of the period in which the responsible person is authorised to sell or supply alcohol), or

(ii) drink as much alcohol as possible (whether within a time limit or otherwise);

(b) provision of unlimited or unspecified quantities of alcohol free or for a fixed or discounted fee to the public or to a group defined by a particular characteristic (other than any promotion or discount available to an individual in respect of alcohol for consumption at a table meal, as defined in section 159 of the Act);

(c) provision of free or discounted alcohol or any other thing as a prize to encourage or reward the purchase and consumption of alcohol over a period of 24 hours or less;

(d) provision of free or discounted alcohol in relation to the viewing on the premises of a sporting event, where that provision is dependent on–

(i) the outcome of a race, competition or other event or process, or

(ii) the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring;

(e) selling or supplying alcohol in association with promotional posters or flyers on, or in the vicinity of, the premises which can reasonably be considered to condone, encourage or glamorise anti-social behaviour or to refer to the effects of drunkenness in any favourable manner.

2.  The responsible person shall ensure that no alcohol is dispensed directly by one person into the mouth of another (other than where that other person is unable to drink without assistance by reason of a disability).

3.  The responsible person shall ensure that free tap water is provided on request to customers where it is reasonably available.

4.—(1) The premises licence holder or club premises certificate holder shall ensure that an age verification policy applies to the premises in relation to the sale or supply of alcohol.

(2) The policy must require individuals who appear to the responsible person to be under 18 years of age (or such older age as may be specified in the policy) to produce on request, before being served alcohol, identification bearing their photograph, date of birth and a holographic mark.

5.  The responsible person shall ensure that–

(a) where any of the following alcoholic drinks is sold or supplied for consumption on the premises (other than alcoholic drinks sold or supplied having been made up in advance ready for sale or supply in a securely closed container) it is available to customers in the following measures–

(i) beer or cider: ½ pint;

(ii) gin, rum, vodka or whisky: 25 ml or 35 ml; and

(iii) still wine in a glass: 125 ml; and

(b) customers are made aware of the availability of these measures.

Revised Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 – March 2010 PDF (1mb)

Revised Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 – March 2010 rtf (689kb)

 

New conditions for licensed/club premises in England and Wales - age verification and smaller measures

The Licensing Act 2003 (mandatory licensing conditions) order 2010 set out five new conditions that apply to all licensed premises and those with a club premises certificate in England and Wales. The first three of these conditions came into force on 6 April 2010, with the implementation of the remaining two (which relate to premises applying an age verification policy and making available smaller measures of drinks) being delayed for six months to give premises time to prepare before they came into force.

On 1 October 2010, the two remaining new mandatory conditions come into force. Further detail on these conditions is set out below, alongside a model age verification policy and information on further changes made by the legislative reform (licensing) (interim authority notices etc) order 2010.

Age-verification

The premises licence holder or club premises certificate holder must ensure that an age verification policy applies to the premises in relation to the sale or supply of alcohol.

This must as a minimum require individuals who appear to the responsible person  to be under the age of 18 years of age to produce on request (before being served alcohol) identification bearing their photograph, date of birth, and a holographic mark.  Examples of acceptable ID include photo card driving licences, passports or proof of age cards bearing the PASS hologram, although other forms of ID which meet the criteria laid out above are also acceptable.
 
The premises licence holder or club premises certificate holder must ensure that staff (in particular staff who are involved in the supply of alcohol) are made aware of the existence and content of the age verification policy applied by the premises.   

This condition does not exclude best practice schemes such as Challenge 21 or Challenge 25 which require individuals who appear to be under an age which is greater than 18 to provide ID.

The condition only applies in situations where the sale takes place face to face. Companies that sell alcohol remotely (e.g. online or by mail order) should operate an age verification policy, but as the transaction takes place remotely the condition does not ordinarily require photo ID to be shown at the point of delivery. As long as age verification has taken place already via another means, these transactions will meet the requirement of the condition.