Stockholm – Sweden’s government said yesterday it wanted to allow breweries, distilleries and winemakers to sell alcoholic beverages directly to customers visiting their operations, easing up the country’s strict alcohol monopoly.
Apart from bars and restaurants, Swedes can only buy beverages with an alcohol content above 3.5 percent at state-run outlets called Systembolaget, and some authorised retailers in rural areas.
“This is a freedom reform. Sweden will become a little more like the rest of Europe, where it is a given that you can both visit and shop,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference.
He said the reform was aimed at small-scale and artisanal operations, estimating that around 600 small-scale businesses would be affected.
The government stressed that it still wanted to protect the Swedish alcohol monopoly.
Sales would be limited to occasions where visitors had paid for a guided tour or a lecture.
Visitors will also only be allowed to purchase 0.7 litres of spirits, and three litres of wine and beer.
Swedish politicians have on several occasions explored the possibility of allowing so-called farm gate sales of alcoholic beverages, but it has never materialised.
Critics have argued it poses a threat to the Swedish model of a distribution monopoly designed to limit consumption.
A 2021 inquiry also noted that such sales could run afoul of EU regulations by giving Swedish businesses a venue for sales not available to competitors outside Sweden.
Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed told reporters the government believed that since sales would only be allowed as part of a tour or lecture, they would not pose a threat to the monopoly.
“It is also our assessment that this proposal is otherwise compatible with EU law,” he said.
The government said the proposal would be formally presented during the summer and sent to the European Commission for review, with the hope that it would be implemented in the first half of 2025. -Nampa/AFP