Alcohol advertising proposals could cost retail sector £96m, says industry body

In-store changes which could be brought in under new alcohol advertising proposals would cost the retail sector £96 million, an industry body has claimed.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on changes to how alcohol is advertised, with one idea suggesting drinks should be kept behind till areas and covered in the same way as cigarettes.

Regulations could also be strengthened to ban sponsorships at sporting and live events, as well as barring distillery and brewery shops from selling branded merchandise.

The proposals – which have not been finalised by government – have been met with criticism in the drinks industry, with an open letter to ministers from more than 100 drinks producers, including some of the biggest in the country, urging them not to “destroy Scotland’s drinks industry”.

The consultation closes on Thursday, and the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) has published its response to the exercise.

“These alcohol restrictions would require a further complete refit of thousands of stores,” the submission said.

“Our initial estimate is this would cost the Scottish retail industry over £20,000 per store, and over £96 million in total.”

The submission continued: “In short, these are ill-considered proposals which completely fail to recognise the work already done by retailers, the impact of the policy, and provide no substantial evidence which justifies the policy.”

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, deputy head of the SRC, said: “We don’t believe the evidence in this consultation in any way explains how and why the further measures to restrict how retailers operate would have a specific link to reducing alcohol-related harms.

“However, we are clear the cost of these measures would be very significant. It would cost over £96 million just to refit Scottish shops to conform to the most extreme of these requirements.

“That doesn’t include the costs of removing alcohol-related merchandise from stores, of changing frontages to hide any sign of alcohol, or the loss of revenue from reduced tourism or events.

“The failure to consult with industry ahead of the publication of the consultation and lack of any accompanying regulatory impact assessment – against the government’s own rule – has made this consultation exercise nearly pointless.”

The SRC also raised concerns over a lack of an assessment on the impact of any change in regulations on the business community, with the government claiming considerations are “too high level” currently to merit such an assessment.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “We are consulting on views on the most appropriate next steps in reducing alcohol-related harm, which is one of the most pressing public health challenges that we face in Scotland.

“The consultation is open until March 9 and no decisions have been taken. We have been meeting a number of stakeholders – including the SRC – during the consultation period to hear directly from them.

“This is very much a first consultation in this area and sets out the major sources of alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland and potential restrictions.

“The function of consulting at this stage, before any proposals are finalised, is to give organisations and individuals the chance to feed back on these, and potential impacts.

“We have not set out a Business Regulatory Impact Assessment at this stage as the proposals are high level and part of the function of the consultation is also to better understand the potential impacts any potential restrictions could have.”