Alcohol ban to be repealed

  • 2007-09-19
  • By Joel Alas
TALLLINN - Tallinn's liquor sellers must be fed up with changing their opening hours signage. In the past four months, alcohol sale laws have been amended three times 's and now another change is on the way.
The controversial 8 p.m. ban on take-away alcohol sales is set to be repealed.
Economic Minister Juhan Parts wants to modify the laws yet again, this time to affect a nationwide ban on alcohol sales from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Parts' amendment would override the 8 p.m. ban in Tallinn, which was introduced by the city council on Aug. 1 in an effort to curb anti-social behavior in the capital.
He said he disapproved of having differing sale hours in differing municipalities, and preferred a standard rule for the entire nation.

Under a draft law prepared by the Ministry of Economy and Communications, local governments would only have the power to impose restrictions on certain stores for specific reasons.
A ministry spokeswoman cited the example of a liquor shop near a retirement home, which might have its hours capped from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m..
"This modification would override Tallinn's overall alcohol ban from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. because local limits can only be imposed on individual businesses for specific reasons," the spokeswoman said.
Parts said he believed a normal, responsible person should "have the right to buy alcohol from a decent supermarket during its opening hours."

He said relaxing the ban in Tallinn would not encourage alcohol consumption. "The reasons for alcohol abuse lie elsewhere," Parts said through a spokeswoman.
Although Parts and his ministry have approved the amendment, it must now go before the Cabinet before it becomes law. It remains unclear when the law, if passed, will come into effect.
The 8 p.m. ban has frustrated many residents of the city, although some social commentators said they believed it had helped control behavior. Police were unable to comment on whether it had led to a drop in street offenses.
The Center Party, which holds power in the Tallinn City Council, has suggested that Parts' nationwide ban should be brought forward to 8 p.m..

Some have accused Parts of merely engaging in a political power struggle. The issue of alcohol restrictions has been a point of tension between the three levels of government since June, when Harju County Governor Varner Lootsmann attempted to introduce restrictions for the entire summer.
Lootsmann argued that alcohol was too freely available, but the Estonian Government overruled Lootsmann, finding that he had stepped outside of his largely ceremonial mandate.
Tallinn City Council then stepped in to back Lootsmann, a Center Party member, by introducing its own ban. Now, with Parts' amendment, the national government has again flexed its muscle.