To combat alcoholism, Russian deputies introduced a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages at night in stores. The authors of the law claim that the restriction has reduced the level of crime and alcohol consumption per person. But at the same time, the innovation caused a lot of trouble for ordinary citizens, since the hours of selling alcohol in different regions of the Russian Federation are different.
Paragraph 5 of Article 16 of the Federal Law of November 22.11.1995, 171 N 02.11.2013-FZ (as amended on November 23, 8) “On state regulation of the production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products and on limiting the consumption (drinking) of alcoholic products” establishes the following restrictions: “Retail sale of alcoholic products from XNUMX:XNUMX to XNUMX:XNUMX local time is not allowed, with the exception of the retail sale of alcoholic products carried out by organizations, and the retail sale of beer and beer drinks, cider, poiret, mead, carried out by individual entrepreneurs, when provided by such organizations and individual entrepreneurs of catering services, as well as the retail sale of alcoholic products carried out by duty-free shops.
The state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have the right to establish additional restrictions on the time, conditions and places for the retail sale of alcoholic products, including a complete ban on the retail sale of alcoholic products.
This means that at retail outlets (shops and supermarkets) in Russia, alcohol is sold to adult citizens from 8 am to 23 pm local time, but only if the administration of the subject of the federation has not introduced more stringent restrictions.
For example, as of April 2014, the hours of alcohol sales in Moscow coincide with the all-Russian ones – you can’t buy alcohol after 23:00 and before 8:00 in the morning. But in the Moscow region there is a stricter restriction – shops are not allowed to sell alcoholic beverages from 21:00 to 11:00. In St. Petersburg, alcohol can be bought from 11:00 to 22:00, in Novorossiysk – from 9:00 to 22:00. Therefore, from what time they sell alcohol in your city, it is better to check with the local authorities or the administration of stores that sell alcohol in the region.
The restrictions do not apply to catering places (cafes, bars) and duty-free shops (Duty Free at airports and train stations), where alcohol is sold around the clock. Until January 1, 2013, the night sale of beer and drinks with a strength of up to 5 degrees was allowed, but now their retail sale at “inappropriate” hours is also prohibited.
For the sale of alcohol at a prohibited time, the company will pay a fine of 50-100 thousand rubles, and its head – 5-10 thousand rubles. The responsibility of citizens is not provided 🙂
Interestingly, the legislation now allows local administrations to impose a complete ban on the sale of alcohol. In the Vladimir region on December 31, 2013, by an official decree, the governor banned the sale of alcoholic products, the strength of which exceeds 16,5%. That is, only wine and beer should have remained on the shelves.
But the population did not share the initiative of their leader. On January 9, 2014, the ban was lifted, the “semi-dry law” lasted only 10 days. Then the officials explained that a mistake had crept into the text of the decree. Initially, it was planned to limit only the night sale of alcohol from 21:00 to 9:00, but they forgot to add this phrase, in fact, introducing a complete ban on the sale of strong alcohol just before the New Year and Christmas.