Beer law in the Russian Federation: fines, latest amendments. Can an individual entrepreneur sell beer? Documentary base for registration

The Ministry of Finance is allegedly preparing such a bill, which involves introducing restrictions from July 2017. Who will ultimately have the right to sell beer?

UPDATED 16:37

In Russia, individual entrepreneurs may be prohibited from selling beer. According to Kommersant, the Ministry of Finance is preparing a corresponding bill. According to it, the restrictions will come into force on July 1 next year. If the law is passed, only organizations will sell beer. This rule now applies to strong alcoholic drinks.

The ministry, according to the publication, explains its initiative by the fact that individual entrepreneurs hide the real volumes of retail sales of alcohol. Fines for failure to submit declarations for private individuals are ten times lower than for companies: 10-15 thousand rubles versus 150-200 thousand rubles.

Vladlen MaksimovPresident of the Coalition of Kioskers, Vice-President of Opora Russia“I learned about this idea yesterday, it seems completely wild to me, there is still talk going on that we need to somehow liberalize the sale of alcohol. Half of our vodka was counterfeit and remains so. Despite what they say: vodka should replace wine, beer - something else, but nothing happens. As for small entrepreneurs - individual entrepreneurs, firstly, this is the death of all craft stores, because all this is not sold in chains, you have to tinker with every client, this is sold by individual entrepreneurs, despite the fact that this industry is developing, successfully replacing vodka in the general consumption structure. Besides, beer is a flow-forming product, and many people who drink it won’t go to a store that doesn’t have it. Therefore, this will mean another blow to small retail. And small retail, in turn, is a unique distribution network for small production. And we always talk about the need to support small production, import substitution, this and that. With one hand we seem to be doing something, with the other we are constantly delivering some blows to retail.”

The greatest damage from the Ministry of Finance’s ban will be suffered by individual entrepreneurs who have only beer in their stores. According to some estimates, in Russia today there are about 89 thousand stores of so-called live beer, 90% of which are registered as individual entrepreneurs. Baltika told Kommersant that they work with approximately 100 thousand individual entrepreneurs in the beer retail industry.

Before the ban on the sale of beer in stalls and kiosks came into force on January 1, 2013, 20% of their total products were sold through this channel. As a result, the total number of retail outlets selling beer has since decreased by 50 thousand.

Kirill Bolmatov Director of Corporate Relations at Heineken in Russia“I believe that this is a completely harmful initiative; it will naturally hit, first of all, small businesses. In addition to being harmful, it is also meaningless. It is justified by the fact that small entrepreneurs report worse, but this is not true, it does not depend at all on the form of ownership, firstly. And plus this reporting itself, to which Rosalkogolregulirovanie has complaints, is unnecessary and duplicative. There is already a system called EGAIS, through which all movement of goods - both beer and other alcohol - is tracked online. Therefore, these additional declarations that both manufacturers and retailers must fill out are simply additional, duplicative, meaningless paper bureaucracy. The EGAIS system is installed at any retail outlet, well, most likely, perhaps this is either an initiative caused by the interests of large retail chains that want to shift all demand to themselves, or these are vodka producers who are offended that their products are sold only by companies, and beer Individual entrepreneurs also trade.”

Finally, co-owner of the Sosna and Lipa bar Sanchir Badakov told Business FM that he does not see any problems for his business.

Sanchir Badakov co-owner of the bar “Sosna i Lipa”“Most of the bars in Moscow and in Russia in general, which deal not only with craft beer, but also ordinary beer bars, are just individual entrepreneurs. And we were just talking about this topic yesterday with our friend, the owner of a bar, he said: it’s okay, we’ll switch to LLC. He doesn't have any particular problems with this. From a tax point of view, everything is simpler in an individual entrepreneur, but I don’t think that switching to an LLC will be a big problem. To be honest, I don’t think that this will cause any particular inconvenience even to small places, for example, the small bottling shops that every metro has, these are the so-called bottling shops. I don’t think that it will be a big problem for them to switch to LLC, because they don’t introduce a license for the sale of weak alcohol, it’s just a ban on sales by individual entrepreneurs.”

As Kommersant writes, referring to the text of the bill, restrictions are proposed to be introduced throughout Russia, with the exception of Crimea and Sevastopol. These regions will be given a deferment until January 1, 2018.

The Ministry of Finance initially did not respond to the publication’s request; Rosalkogolregulirovanie refused to comment. It was also reported that the new bill concerns not only beer, but also beer drinks, cider and mead.

According to the latest data, the Ministry of Finance nevertheless denied such information.« This is a proposal from Rosalkogolregulirovaniya, the bill was prepared on its own initiative“, the ministry emphasized and noted that the ban will not be introduced in July 2017.

For some time now, a refreshing, foamy drink - beer, has become the object of close attention of the legislator. Everything you need to know about the rules for selling, purchasing and drinking beer in 2019 can be found in this article.

July 2011 was fatal for beer - the law adopted by the State Duma significantly changed the legal status of the foamy drink, equating it to alcoholic products and establishing significant restrictions on its sale and consumption.

The new rules for the sale of beer come into effect in stages: the bulk of them are already being implemented in practice, and some changes are yet to show themselves in practice.

Where you can't sell beer:

• On all types of urban and suburban public transport, at bus stops, gas stations;
• In areas near children's, medical and educational organizations, sports facilities and in areas adjacent to them;
• In cultural organizations, with the exception of retail sales of beer carried out by individual entrepreneurs when providing catering services;
• At military installations and adjacent territories;
• In non-stationary objects for trade; in wholesale and retail trade markets, in places of increased danger, at train stations and airports, in other crowded places and in areas adjacent to them. BUT when an organization or individual entrepreneur provides catering services, retail sale of beer and beer drinks in specified places.

A non-stationary retail facility is a retail facility that is a temporary structure or temporary structure (including mobile) that is not firmly connected to a plot of land, regardless of the absence or presence of a connection to utility networks. This concept is fixed.

Surrounding areas – These are those land plots that are directly adjacent to buildings, structures and structures. The boundaries of such territories are determined by local governments in their decisions.

Where you should not drink beer:

• In places where the sale of beer is prohibited (taking into account permissible exceptions: cafes, bars, clubs and similar places - drinking beer purchased there is, accordingly, permitted);
• In courtyards, entrances, in elevators, on stairs and landings of residential buildings;
• On children's playgrounds;
• In recreational areas (within the boundaries of territories containing urban forests, gardens, parks and public gardens, ponds, lakes and reservoirs, beaches and other areas used and intended for sports, recreation and tourism). BUT the purchase of beer and its consumption in places where public catering services are provided, located in the specified territories,

When will it be impossible to buy beer?

New rules for the sale of beer and beer drinks of any strength (except non-alcoholic) 2019 established the sale time: sales are unacceptable by law from 23:00 to 8:00 local time. An exception is retail sales in places of catering services (clubs, bars, cafes, restaurants and other similar places).

In each individual subject of the Russian Federation, additional restrictions on the conditions, times and places of retail sale of alcohol, beer and beer drinks may be established, including a complete ban on the retail sale of these products. State authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have the authority to establish restrictions.

Ban on beer advertising

Laws on the sale of beer in 2019 established new trade rules and also affected advertising activities. From now on, beer advertisements cannot be placed on the front and back pages of newspapers and magazines, contain statements about the harmlessness and benefits of the product, or use images of people or animals, even cartoon ones. The rest regarding advertising of alcoholic beverages have not undergone significant changes.

Requirements for retail premises selling beer in 2019 according to the new rules:

1. According to law on the sale of beer in 2019, organizations and individual entrepreneurs for the purpose of retail beer sales must own, operate, manage or lease stationary retail facilities, warehouse premises and cash register equipment.

Organizations and individual entrepreneurs providing catering services again fall under the exception - these requirements do not apply to them.

1. There are no restrictions on the total area of ​​stationary retail facilities and warehouses for the retail sale of beer and beer drinks. Only, if other alcoholic products (vodka, cognac, wine, etc.) appear on the shelves of such retail facilities, then the law establishing the new rules for the sale of beer 2019, among others, introduces a restriction on the total area of ​​retail facilities and warehouses - at least 50 square meters meters in the city and 25 sq.m. in rural areas.

Is beer trade licensed for individual entrepreneurs in 2019?

Licensing of activities related to the retail sale, purchase, storage and supply of beer and beer drinks is not provided. Likewise, labeling for beer and beer drinks is optional.

Sales of beer in PET in 2019

Of the upcoming restrictions, one is still in effect - the production and circulation of alcoholic products containing more than 7% ethyl alcohol of the total volume of finished products must be carried out in consumer packaging not exceeding 330 milliliters in volume.

However, the sensational bill on establishing a limit on the volume of consumer packaging for alcoholic beverages is already actively taking an offensive position.

According to the new law on the sale of beer in PET, based on data, from July 1, 2017, the production of alcoholic beverages, as well as beer and beer drinks, is allowed only in polymer consumer containers not exceeding a volume of 1.5 liters. In the future, it is planned to gradually reduce the volume of this container to 0.5 liters.

As for the retail sale of beer and beer drinks, the upcoming changes will introduce a ban on the retail sale of alcoholic beverages with a strength of more than 4% of the volume in polymer consumer packaging in general, and 4% or less in polymer consumer packaging whose volume is more than 0.5 liters.

At the same time, the reduction in the volume of PET and the corresponding reduction in the ethyl alcohol content of alcoholic products will occur gradually. The exact dates will be clarified by new amendments to the current legislation.

Beer, as well as cider, poiret, mead and other beer-based drinks are alcoholic products. When selling beer, you must take into account the rules governing the sale of alcohol, but with some peculiarities. Are you interested in this line of business? Then read our article, in which we will talk about the most important issues when trading beer and beer drinks:

• can an individual entrepreneur sell beer;
• Do you need a license to sell beer?
• what restrictions exist on the sale of beer;
• Do beer sellers need to connect to EGAIS?
• when you don’t need a cash register when selling beer;
• what OKVED codes to choose for selling beer;
• What kind of reporting on sales volumes must be submitted?

Can an individual entrepreneur start selling beer?

Let us answer right away that individual entrepreneurs have the right to sell beer. Why does this question even arise? Are there any prohibitions on the sale of alcohol related to the organizational and legal form of the seller (individual entrepreneur or LLC)? There really is such a ban; it is established by Article 16 of Law No. 171-FZ of November 22, 1995.

According to it, only organizations are allowed to sell strong alcohol. Why this is so is not explained, but the fact remains that only legal entities have the right to trade in strong alcoholic drinks and wines. An exception is made only for individual entrepreneurs - agricultural producers who sell wines and champagne of their own production.

Regarding the sale of beer, the same article states that “Retail sales of beer and beer drinks, cider, poiret, mead are carried out by organizations and individual entrepreneurs.” Please note - this is a retail sale! The fact is that there is also a provision in Article 11 of Law No. 171-FZ, and it allows the wholesale trade of alcohol and beer only to legal entities.

Thus, individual entrepreneurs have the right to sell beer and beer-based drinks only at retail. And in order to produce and sell beer without restrictions, you need to register a company.

Do I need a license to sell beer?

But here everything is simple - a license to sell beer is not required. Again we read Law No. 171-FZ, Article 18 on the issuance: “... with the exception of the production and circulation of beer and beer drinks, cider, poire, mead.” So, selling beer without a license in 2019 does not threaten anything, no sanctions are provided for this. True, certain restrictions and requirements for organizing the sale of beer still exist, and we will talk about them further.

Terms of sale of beer

This is perhaps the most important information that you should familiarize yourself with before organizing a beer trade. Considering that beer is an alcoholic drink, it is clear that it should not be available at any place and time.

Beer alcoholism develops quickly and unnoticed, which is especially dangerous for children and women. And if for beer traders large sales volumes mean profit, then buyers of the foamy drink pay for their excessive consumption with their health. We must be understanding of the prohibitions established in Article 16 of Law No. 171-FZ; ultimately, they act for the benefit of the entire society.

• children's, educational and medical institutions;
• sports and cultural facilities;
• public transport of all types and its stops;
• markets, train stations, airports and other places of mass gathering of citizens (with the exception of catering establishments);
• military facilities.

2. Beer can only be sold in stationary retail establishments, so the building must have a foundation and be entered in the real estate register. That is, temporary structures such as stalls and kiosks are not suitable for selling beer, with the exception of catering establishments. As for the area of ​​a retail facility, if, in addition to beer, strong alcohol is sold, then the following restrictions apply:

• not less than 50 sq. m. in cities
• at least 25 sq. m. in rural areas.

When selling only beer, there are no space restrictions.

3. Beer sales hours are limited to the period from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., except for public catering outlets.

• seller - from 30 to 50 thousand rubles;
• official (individual entrepreneur or head of an organization) - from 100 to 200 thousand rubles;
• legal entity - from 300 to 500 thousand rubles;

If there is any doubt about the buyer's age, the seller must request identification. In addition, selling beer to minors may result in criminal liability. Please note that police often conduct control raids involving young people in order to provoke such illegal sales. It's better to play it safe and ask for a passport, even if the buyer looks old enough.

5. From January 1, 2017, the production and wholesale trade is prohibited, and from July 1, 2017, the retail sale of beer bottled in plastic containers larger than 1.5 liters is prohibited. Fines for violation: from 100 to 200 thousand rubles for individual entrepreneurs and from 300 to 500 thousand rubles for legal entities.

6. Additional restrictions on the sale of beer may be established by local authorities. Thus, in many municipalities the sale of beer is prohibited in retail outlets located in multi-apartment residential buildings. We recommend that before you start selling beer, you find out all the rules from the local administration or the Federal Tax Service.

EGAIS - beer sales

EGAIS is a state system for monitoring the production and circulation of alcohol. Is EGAIS needed to sell beer? Yes, of course, but in a limited format. Organizations and individual entrepreneurs purchasing beer for further retail sale are required to connect to the system only to confirm purchases of wholesale quantities from legal manufacturers and suppliers.

To connect to EGAIS, you need to obtain a special electronic signature and register on the official website of Rosalkogolregulirovanie. We talked in detail about how to do this. After registering in the system, the buyer receives his identification number (ID), and the supplier issues invoices for him, reflecting them in the Unified State Automated Information System. After the consignment of goods is accepted by the buyer, the supplier writes off the delivered products from its balances in the Unified State Automated Information System, and it is recorded for the buyer.

Confirmation of the fact of sale of each bottle of beer, as is the case with strong alcohol and wine, is not required, so trade in beer through EGAIS is easier to register than other alcoholic beverages. The main thing here is to confirm that the wholesale batch of beer was purchased legally.

Please note that selling beer without a cash register is punishable separately under Article 14.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:

• for individual entrepreneurs and heads of organizations - from ¼ to ½ of the settlement amount, but not less than 10,000 rubles;
• for organizations - from ¾ to the full amount of the settlement amount, but not less than 30,000 rubles.

New OKVED codes for beer trade

Please note that when registering individual entrepreneurs and LLCs, only the classifier is used. To indicate activities related to beer trade, use the new 2019 OKVED codes.

For wholesale beer trade:

• 46.34.2: Wholesale trade of alcoholic beverages, including beer and food grade ethyl alcohol;
• 46.34.23: Wholesale trade in beer;
• 46.17.23: Activities of agents in the wholesale trade of beer.

For beer retail:

• 47.25.1: Retail trade of alcoholic beverages, including beer, in specialized stores;
• 47.25.12: Retail sale of beer in specialized stores.
• 47.11.2: Retail trade of non-frozen products, including drinks and tobacco products, in non-specialized stores;

For selling beer in public catering:

• 56.30: activities of bars, taverns, cocktail lounges, discos and dance floors (with predominant service of drinks), beer bars, buffets, herbal bars, drinks vending machines.

Important: if you registered an individual entrepreneur or LLC before July 11, 2016, then you do not need to make any changes to the codes; the Federal Tax Service will independently correlate your previous and new OKVED codes entered in the registers.

But if you decide to start selling beer after mid-2016, and the corresponding codes were not entered immediately upon registration, then you must report the new type of activity using forms (for individual entrepreneurs) and P13001 or P14001 (). In this case, indicate the codes according to OKVED-2, as indicated above.

Reporting on beer sales

From January 1, 2016, sellers of alcoholic beverages, including beer, are required to keep a log of retail sales. The form of the journal and the procedure for filling it out are approved by Order No. 164 of Rosalkogolregulirovanie dated June 19, 2015.

The log must be filled out daily, no later than the next day after the sale of each container or package of alcohol, including beer. At the end of each day, fill in sales data: name, product type code, volume and quantity. This is what a sample journal looks like, posted on the website of the state organization FSUE "CenterInform", which issues an electronic signature for connecting to the Unified State Automated Information System.

For the absence of a journal or its incorrect maintenance, a fine is imposed - from 10 to 15 thousand rubles for individual entrepreneurs and from 150 to 200 thousand rubles for organizations.

In addition, based on the results of each quarter, no later than the 20th day of the next month (April 20, July, October, January, respectively), it is necessary to submit a declaration on beer turnover to the Rosalkogolregulirovanie in form No. 12. The declaration form and the rules for filling it out were approved by Government Decree dated August 9, 2012 No. 815.

Let's summarize:

1. Not only organizations, but also individual entrepreneurs can sell beer, however, only retail trade for final consumption is allowed for them.
2. A license to sell beer is not required.
3. Take into account the legal restrictions on place, time and range of customers when selling beer.
4. It is impossible to legally purchase a batch of beer for further sale without connecting to EGAIS, so you must register on the Rosalkogolregulirovanie website. After this, the system will need to confirm the fact of purchasing a batch each time and reflect the remaining product.
5. From March 31, 2017, the sale of beer, including in public catering, is possible only with the use of a cash register, regardless of the tax regime.
6. Since July 11, 2016, only OKVED-2 is used for registration purposes. Indicate OKVED codes for the sale of beer from our selection, they correspond to the current classifier.
7. Keep a record book for alcohol retail and submit beer sales declarations in a timely manner.

Rosalkogolregulirovanie (RAR) proposes to ban the sale of beer to individual entrepreneurs. The department wants businessmen to re-register from an individual entrepreneur to a legal entity - this will make it easier for the RAR to control the beer market.

And from March 15, the entire control system for the production and sale of alcohol switched to the EGAIS 3.0 accounting version. (Unified State Automated Information System) Now the fate of each bottle of alcohol, from its birth at the factory or crossing the Russian border until the moment of sale at any licensed outlet, will be recorded in the RAR electronic database. If the initiative to ban individual entrepreneurs finds support, then more than 110 thousand registered entrepreneurs may lose their business. Market participants are sounding the alarm.

New version of EGAIS

In 2017, about 1.5 billion bottles of vodka and 1.2 billion bottles of wine were sold in Russia. Thus, from now on, 2.7 billion data on the movement of containers with alcoholic beverages should be tracked annually in the FS RAR database.

EGAIS for recording the turnover of ethyl alcohol and alcoholic products was first tried to be implemented 12 years ago - in 2006 at the wholesale level. As experts note, there was confusion in the market; the system even had to be switched to a “manual” operating mode for some time: the accompanying documentation for each batch was sent not through the program, but on paper. Even now, Anton Gushchansky, head of the automated information systems department of Rosalkogolregulirovanie, notes that not everything has been finalized. “There are still certain technical issues, including on our side, that we are solving... We will close all problems that arise before the target date,” Gushchansky said. The “control date” is July 1, from this moment EGAIS 3.0 will work in “industrial mode”, that is, the entire document flow for alcohol accounting, including carryovers in warehouses, will be closed to the system.

The fundamental question has not yet been determined - how containers with bottles will be labeled. The idea is being discussed to have an excise stamp affixed to the box, which would contain information about all the excise stamps of the bottles in the box.

Market participants predict problems: there is a fight during packaging, and bottles have to be quickly replaced. In addition, it is problematic to synchronize the brands of bottles and boxes during mass production.

The easiest way is for those enterprises with a license for the retail sale of alcohol that were able to prove that there is no Internet in their area, they were allowed to work without the Unified State Automated Information System. But there are few lucky ones, about 1-2%, the rest, about 210 thousand points of sale, are required to be in constant contact with EGAIS through the worldwide network.

The consequences of the introduction of the Unified State Automated Information System were not as catastrophic as the pessimists predicted, but still quite significant. In 2016, in the Volga region, for example, about 500 rural stores closed because of the Unified State Automated Information System. Entrepreneurs did not bear the cost of connecting to the system and the problems of unstable Internet. Even the only rural stores, for which the sale of alcohol provided 30-40% of their income, did not receive state support or tax deductions. Due to problems with the Internet in the Urals, more than 100 stores were forced to close in 2017.

Beer will be counted too

The next step of the regulator may be to include not only strong alcohol, but also beer in the Unified State Automated Information System (USAIS), and, consequently, the introduction of marking accounting for another 5 billion containers annually. The production manager of one of the breweries says: “The labeling system for beer products assumes the same thing as the labeling of strong alcohol. Each bottle is marked with an excise stamp, the barcode of which is read by a scanner upon sale, and the information immediately goes to the Unified State Automated Information System. But even now we We fully report on each bottle shipped to the client. The store has an online cash register that sends data to the Unified State Automated Information System. For wholesale sales, we provide a full package of documents: bill of lading, delivery note, certificates of forms “A” and “B”, declarations. compliance. We are literally drowning in these papers. I am no longer busy with brewing beer, but with reporting. After the introduction of markings, we will have to buy the excise stamps themselves, as well as comply with the conditions for their storage and transportation: for example, have a separate safe and. a separate secure room."

If legislation changes and a ban is introduced on the sale of beer to individual entrepreneurs, more than 110 thousand entrepreneurs will receive another additional administrative burden. To transition to the status of a legal entity, an entrepreneur must collect an authorized capital of at least 10,000 rubles. After this, the new LLC will have to face a more complex taxation mechanism, and, therefore, hire an accountant and plan its payroll (payroll fund). Experts also note that the amount of annual deductions for LLCs is higher than for individual entrepreneurs. In addition to the single income tax, which currently amounts to 6% of revenue, it is necessary to make other deductions, for example, income and property taxes. At the same time, an individual entrepreneur simply submits a declaration at a rate of 6% and pays contributions to the Pension Fund for the company’s staff, if the employees are on staff.

In the history of EGAIS, two fundamental questions remain. First, why, despite a 12-year struggle to account for each bottle, constant investments in the development of the system by the state and businesses that are forced to adapt, the share of illegal alcohol in retail is estimated from 30% to 80%, even though with strong Do legal entities work with alcohol? And secondly, why is it necessary to put trade participants in difficult conditions every time, burden them with additional burdens, and change the rules, not softening them, but, on the contrary, tightening them? Maybe the problem is the imperfection of the information system, and not the market players? Medical statistics speak about the real results of market control. According to the independent federal project "Sober Russia", "alcohol kills up to 600 thousand people a year."

Last year, 2017, the legislation in the field of circulation of alcoholic products, in particular beer, underwent some changes. Punishments for violations in this area have been tightened, and some provisions regarding the rules for the circulation of alcohol-containing products have been changed.

The essence of the law

The main legal document in the field of sales of alcohol, and beer in particular, is adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation in July and approved by the Federation Council of the Russian Federation in November 1995.

Structurally, Law 171-FZ is presented in four chapters, including 27 articles. Let's look at the summary of the law, outlining the main points:

Chapter 1. General provisions: scope of the law, basic concepts, relevant legislation, state monopoly on the production and circulation of alcohol and alcohol, powers of federal and local authorities in this area.

Also read the Federal Law on Bankruptcy of Individuals. More details

Chapter 2. Requirements for the production and circulation of beer: rules for using equipment, circulation and supply of alcohol and alcohol, accompanying documentation, special requirements, taxation and labeling, regulation of import and export of alcoholic products, accounting and declaration of production volume, turnover and use of grape volume (in the production of wine and cognac products), registration production equipment, requirements for retail sales, drinking rules and restrictions.

Chapter 3. Licensing: types of activities subject to licensing, procedure for issuing a license, suspension, renewal and termination and cancellation of a license, procedure for appealing a refusal to issue a license.

Read about state secrets

Chapter 4. State supervision: control in the field of production, supervision of compliance with mandatory requirements, licensing control, supervision of the use of equipment, public control, SRO of winemakers and winegrowers, suppression of illegal production and trafficking of alcohol, restrictions, features of the application of certain provisions of Law 171-FZ.

As can be seen from the thesis structure of the law, the main subjects of regulation of this law are the production and circulation of ethyl production and alcoholic products, as well as restrictions on drinking alcohol.

As for beer, in paragraph 13.1 of part 1 of Art. 2 of Law 171-FZ provides a definition of this drink, a brief description of the production technology and a description of the tolerances for the content of components.

Also read: Federal Law 261 in the latest edition. Details

Also, the “beer law” stipulates that technological equipment for the production of beer and beer drinks must be equipped with automation that measures and takes into account the concentration (strength) of the drink, as well as the volume of finished products, with an exception made for small breweries.

Article 12 of the law states that the requirements for mandatory labeling of alcoholic beverages do not apply to beer and beer drinks.

An exception has also been made for beer and beer drinks in the retail sector. In the retail trade of alcohol and the provision of public catering services, only organizations have the right to sell alcoholic products. However, individual entrepreneurs also have the right to sell beer and beer drinks.

According to the provisions of Part 7 of Article 16 on special requirements for the retail sale of alcohol when providing public catering services, as well as for drinking alcohol, the ban on drinking alcohol in public places also applies to beer and beer drinks. If the drink was purchased at an establishment, it should only be consumed in that establishment.

According to Part 9 of the same article of the “law on the sale of beer,” the rule banning the sale of alcohol between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. local time also applies to beer, but the sale of this drink in establishments (restaurants, bars, etc.) is permitted.

Federal Law on Trade in a new edition

Paragraph 1 of Article 18 states that production and circulation of beer and beer drinks are not subject to licensing. Let us recall that the term “turnover” (according to paragraph 16 of Article 2) includes purchase, delivery, storage, transportation and retail sales.

On January 1, 2018, the deferrals and relaxations that applied to Crimea and the city of Sevastopol ended. Now the requirements for the production and circulation of alcohol in this territory are imposed in full.

Are there penalties for breaking the law?

In July 2017, the President signed a law amending the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which provides for increased liability for the illegal sale of alcohol. Responsibility for violating the rules for the production and sale of alcoholic products is prescribed in Articles 14.16 - 14.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Let's figure it out how to sell beer under the new law. When selling bottled and draft beer, the seller must consider and observe the following main points:

Trading time. According to Law 171-FZ, the permissible time for the sale of alcohol in the country is from 8 to 23 hours local time. In some cities and regions, even stricter restrictions have been established, and the night ban may also be supplemented by certain holidays on which retail alcohol cannot be sold - for example, on school graduation days.

For violation there is a fine in the amount of:

• For the seller - 30 - 50 thousand rubles;
• For the owner of a store or retail outlet: 5-10 thousand rubles;
• For an individual entrepreneur and a legal entity: up to 100 thousand rubles with confiscation.

Place of trade. Beer can only be sold in stationary retail establishments (the building must be capital and be included in the unified real estate register). Selling beer in stalls and kiosks is prohibited. It is also prohibited to sell beer in the following facilities and in the areas adjacent to them: children's, educational and medical institutions, sports and cultural facilities, public transport of all types and its stops, gas stations, markets, train stations, airports and other places of public gathering (with the exception of catering ), military installations.

For selling alcohol in the wrong place, a fine is imposed in the amount of:

• From business owners 10-15 thousand rubles;
• From a legal entity - up to 300 thousand rubles.

EGAIS— Unified state automated information system. Organizations and individual entrepreneurs purchasing beer for retail sale are required to connect to the system only to confirm purchases of wholesale quantities from legal suppliers. The seller must register on the Rosalkogolregulirovanie website. After this, the system will need to confirm the fact of purchasing a batch each time and reflect the remaining product.

For violation of the procedure for recording information on the volume of alcohol turnover in the Unified State Automated Information System (EGAIS) fines are imposed in the following amounts:

• For individuals (company manager) - from 10 to 15 thousand rubles;
• For legal entities - 150,000 - 200,000 rubles.

In both cases, confiscation of illegally sold products is possible.

Availability of a cash register. From March 31, 2017, selling beer, including in public catering, is possible only with the use of a cash register - regardless of the tax regime. Selling beer without using a cash register is punishable according to Article 14.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The fine is:

• For individual entrepreneurs and heads of organizations - 25% - 50% of the settlement amount, but not less than 10,000 rubles;
• For organizations - from 75% to 100% of the settlement amount, but not less than 30,000 rubles.

Buyer's age. If there is the slightest doubt about the buyer’s age, the seller should ask him to present an identification document.

For the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors, an administrative fine is provided in the amount (Part 2.1 of Article 14.16 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation):

• For the seller - from 30 to 50 thousand rubles;
• For a manager (official) - from 100 to 200 thousand rubles;
• For legal entities - from 300 to 500 thousand rubles.

Maintaining a journal of retail trade volumes is a mandatory requirement for sellers of alcohol and in particular beer. The log must be completed daily.

For violation of this requirement or incorrect journal keeping, a fine is imposed in the amount of:

• For individual entrepreneurs - from 10 to 15 thousand rubles;
• For organizations - from 150 to 200 thousand.

In addition, a declaration on beer turnover must be submitted quarterly to Rosalkogolregulirovanie. Download useful files:

Container and its volume. A sensational innovation in relatively recent times prescribes a ban on the production and sale of beer bottled in plastic containers with a volume of more than 1.5 liters. This change was related to the state policy of combating beer alcoholism and was made to reduce alcohol consumption by the population.

For violation of this provision there is a fine:

• For individual entrepreneurs - from 100 to 200 thousand rubles;
• For organizations - from 300 to 500 thousand.

In case illegal sale of alcohol by an individual, the violator faces a fine of 30 to 50 thousand rubles (Article 14.17.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

What changes have been made?

Amendments came into force on January 1, 2018, prescribed in Federal Law No. 278-FZ of July 29, 2017. In many ways, the amendments affected the circulation of medicines, medical products and preparations containing alcohol.

Below we will discuss in more detail the amendments to the law that specifically affected the circulation of beer and alcoholic beverages.

Clause 2.3 art. 11 was presented in a different edition. Thus, an organization producing alcoholic products must own, operate, manage or lease for a period of one year production and warehouse premises that meet the established requirements, which are real estate.

Article 11 of Law 171-FZ was also supplemented with clause 8, according to which the production of alcoholic beverages whose strength is less than 15% and containing tonic substances is prohibited. Such drinks are allowed to be produced only for export purposes.

Clause 1 of Article 14 has been reworded. Its provisions mostly affected the recording of the volume of production of alcoholic products and the procedure for declaring them, which was described in detail in the subsection of this article on fines.

Clause 1 of Article 26 on restrictions in the production and circulation of alcohol was supplemented with a paragraph stating that from now on, when moving across the territory of Russia and across the state border, either on foot or by car or other transport, one person should have no more than 10 liters of unmarked alcohol. alcohol products.

The fine for disseminating such information will be:

• For citizens from 3 thousand to 5 thousand rubles;
• For officials - from 20 thousand to 40 thousand rubles;
• For legal entities - from 100 thousand to 300 thousand rubles.

Download the current version of the law

This information will be useful to both producers and consumers of beer and beer drinks. In addition, the information presented in the article can serve as a reminder for owners and managers of stores and establishments selling these products.

For more detailed information about the provisions of the law, we offer No. 171-FZ dated November 22, 1995 “On state regulation of the production and turnover of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products and on limiting the consumption (drinking) of alcoholic products” with amendments and additions that came into force on 1 January 2018.