Strengthening state management of alcohol and alcoholic beverages

Drinking too much alcohol not only affects the health of the drinker, but also leads to domestic violence, disrupts social order and security, and becomes a burden for the family and society.

Measuring alcohol concentration of drivers participating in road traffic. Photo: VNA

A series of policies were issued.

“Realizing this, the Government has directed the Ministry of Industry and Trade to take measures to strengthen management of production, business and use of alcohol and beer,” said Mr. Phan Chi Dung, Director of the Department of Light Industry, Ministry of Industry and Trade.

According to Mr. Dung, the management of alcoholic beverages, including beer and wine products, has been carried out by the State through many specific forms such as management through industry planning, through the promulgation of state policies with a series of policies on taxes, import and export, investment, business registration, food safety and hygiene regulations, etc.

In particular, for some specific industries such as alcoholic beverage production, in addition to general policies, the State requires separate management measures.

Typically, in 2014, the Government issued Decision No. 244/QD-TTg dated February 12, 2014 promulgating the National Policy on preventing the harmful effects of alcohol abuse.

“According to the plan approved by the Prime Minister, in 2014, the Ministry of Industry and Trade must issue a Decree on the production and trading of beer and other alcoholic beverages (other than wine products).

In the long term, the Policy on Prevention of Harmful Effects of Alcohol and Beverage Abuse will be studied to be raised to the level of law and submitted to the National Assembly for approval. Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is also conducting research on the Project to improve management of beer products. If the project is effective, it will be applied to all alcoholic beverages,” said Mr. Dung.

Remarkable effect

According to Mr. Dung, the management of beer production activities through industry planning is increasingly being improved and has brought about positive results.

Currently, the number of beer production enterprises is decreasing the fastest, especially small-scale enterprises with outdated equipment. The number of beer production establishments has decreased from 400-500 establishments (in 2000), to 118 establishments now...

Many large, branded enterprises have developed strongly with large capacity factories, modern equipment, increasingly improved product quality, ensuring food hygiene and safety, diversifying product types and maintaining good competitiveness in the market. Production output by 2013 reached 3 billion liters of beer, average consumption per capita is 30 liters/person/year.

Before the Decree on alcohol production and trading was issued, in 2005, alcohol consumption in Vietnam was about 462 million liters, an average of 5.5 liters/person/year, of which alcohol brewed by people was about 360 million liters (accounting for 78%). Industrially produced alcohol, produced by factories, reached 82 million liters (accounting for 17.7%), high-class alcohol (mainly foreign alcohol) consumed about 19 million liters (accounting for 4.9%).

In particular, craft alcohol is a type of alcohol whose quality cannot be controlled, taxed and has many negative consequences such as unhealthy consumption habits, harm to health, affecting fertility, reducing labor force, increasing traffic accidents, etc.

In addition, from a market perspective, the unlicensed production of artisanal wine, counterfeiting of wine, illegal import of wine, violation of intellectual property rights on product labels, and tax evasion have created inequality in competition, affecting legitimate businesses.

After the Government's Decree on alcohol production and trading was issued, the alcohol production and trading industry has gradually become more organized, industrial quality has been improved, designs and labels have become more and more diverse and beautiful.

Consumers (especially in cities and urban areas) have gradually switched to using industrially produced alcohol with more assured quality than artisanal alcohol. Most industrial alcohol production enterprises; wholesale and retail distributors have been granted production licenses or business licenses. Organizations and individuals producing artisanal alcohol for business purposes have also begun to be aware of complying with State regulations on alcohol production and trading and food safety...

“The licensing activities of state management agencies and the production and trading of alcohol by traders in the areas inspected in 2013 and the first months of 2014 showed that most of them complied with the provisions of the law. Craft villages also gradually concentrated production and sales to a few key responsible points. Food hygiene and safety and product quality issues were also gradually paid attention to, so the quality of alcohol was also improved,” Mr. Dung shared.

Strengthening propaganda to change behavior

It can be said that the policies on alcohol and alcoholic beverages management have produced positive results with clear changes in awareness and behavior of people as well as producers.

According to surveys, nowadays in the countryside, people have gradually switched to using canned wine produced in factories that ensure food hygiene and safety and labeled country wine.

In craft villages, there are businesses, cooperatives, and associations named after that craft village… producing products bearing the craft village brand with quality that ensures food safety and hygiene.

In provinces and cities, propaganda work has been promoted and focused on alcohol producers and traders; local inspection and supervision of businesses has also been carried out regularly, contributing to reducing the amount of hand-produced alcohol.

In particular, the phenomenon of people bringing craft wine to sell on the streets in provinces and cities has almost disappeared...

However, to put the above activities into order, strict control by authorities at all levels is still needed so that manufactured products ensure food safety and consumer health.

In addition, it is necessary to promote widespread propaganda to all subjects and classes of people about their responsibility to themselves and the community when using alcohol and alcoholic beverages to raise people's awareness in implementing the Government's policy of preventing the harmful effects of alcohol and alcoholic beverage abuse.

According to Vietnam+