VILNIUS - Lithuanian retailers have become locked in a hard-hitting battle with lawmakers as leading vendors of alcohol and cigarettes introduced harsh age-verification measures as a means of protesting against strict licensing requirements passed by the Seimas (Lithuania's parliament).
On May 1 a new civil code came into effect mandating that retailers be imposed a fine between 1,000 litas (290 euros) and 3,000 litas if caught selling alcohol to individuals less than 18 old. Also a repeat offence would result in the automatic revocation of alcohol licenses for at least one year, a condition that retailers claim is unacceptable.
Similarly, a first offense for selling tobacco to minors would result in a fine of 5,000 litas to 10,000 litas, with authorities revoking the licenses of repeat offenders for one year.
After attempted negotiations with policy makers, mainstream retailers, including such big names as VP Market, Iki, Norfa, Rimi and CBA Aibe, responded on May 1 by requiring all customers purchasing alcohol or tobacco to present official proof of age, regardless of how old or young they appeared.
As a result, confused shoppers, including those who were middle-aged and elderly, were asked to produce their passports by cashiers in checkout lines across the country. In many stores, cash registers were recalibrated so that products such as beer and cigarettes could not be rung up without the first four numbers of a customer's national identity code being typed into the machine.
By May 6, however, retailers announced they had secured undisclosed guarantees from the majority coalition in Parliament, and most vendors suspended their tighter regulations.
Meetings between representatives of the country's largest supermarket chains and MP's began at the Seimas on May 11, as both sides attempted to find a compromise.
Nonetheless, amid the aggravation felt by passportless shoppers well over the legal age of majority who were denied a bottle of wine or pack of cigarettes during a quick stop at their neighborhood store, leaders on both sides of the conflict blamed each other for unreasonable stubbornness.
"We started checking the birth dates of all customers to protect ourselves from this extremely strict new law, which dictates that licenses can be taken away from retailers very easily," said Gediminas Zizys, director of the Lithuanian Retailers Association.
"This is nothing more than a business self-defense reflex. We're trying to protect our business, just like any businessmen would do," said Zizys.
Lawmakers, for their part, responded with bitter accusations, including assertions that the retailers were attempting to blackmail the legislative process by turning buyers of alcohol and tobacco against Parliament.
At the height of the conflict on May 4, Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas used war rhetoric to describe the clash between the two groups.
"I appeal to the retailers' conscience. We can't give in and return to the time when children from the age of 10 used to walk into stores and buy alcohol," he told Lithuanian Radio in an interview.
Moreover, while retailers claim that they have reached an agreement with Brazauskas' Social Democratic party, which holds the largest number of seats in the Seimas, party leaders are bitterly divided on the issue, casting doubt on the possibility of a compromise.
Yet according to Giedrius Kadziauskas, a policy analyst at the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, the party's weakened stance on the issue is a sign that even lawmakers now consider the original law to have been too harsh.
"Let's keep in mind that six months ago, when the law was being written, the ruling coalition considered it to be satisfactory. Now, some in the coalition are adding amendments, which means that somebody's mind has changed," he said.
Suggestions for amending the law have ranged from fining offending minors instead of retailers to revoking licenses of only the store where products were illegally purchased rather than the entire chain.
