Key Responsibilities of liquor licensees
Responsible persons
There must be an approved responsible person on duty whenever the venue is open to the public.
If you don’t have responsible person on duty, you can be issued an on the spot fine of $1,200 and a maximum penalty of $20,000.
In certain circumstances you may be able to apply for an exemption to have a responsible person on duty.
Responsible service of alcohol and other training
The licensee must ensure that the following people have completed approved responsible service of alcohol training (RSA):
- all staff (including volunteers) who sell, offer for sale or serve liquor
- all security personnel working at the licensed premises.
These businesses do not have to comply with the training requirements:
- a liquor production and sales licence that doesn’t authorise the sale of liquor for consumption on a licensed premises
- a packaged liquor sales licence restricted to direct sales licence
- a short term licence, unless the licence is for a Class 3 event or there is a condition on the licence requiring the licensee to comply
- where a person is selling or supplying liquor to a resident for consumption on the licensed premises.
RSA helps control the negative impacts of alcohol and deals with:
- service of alcohol to minors (anyone under 18)
- alcohol-related violence and crime
- drunk and disorderly patrons
- noise disturbances.
Delivery of alcohol
If your licence licence allows you to sell alcohol by direct sales, such as by phone or online, you must:
- display your licence number on all promotional direct sales material – eg pamphlets, websites, newsletters
- make sure the person delivering the alcohol is over the age of 18
- get the date of birth of buyer at the time of the purchase, unless it has been supplied before
- make sure the person delivering the alcohol knows it must only be delivered:
- to the adult person who purchased the alcohol
- to the adult person nominated by the purchaser
- in accordance with the instructions of the purchaser, such as leaving the alcohol unattended.
If you sell alcohol to a person under the age of 18, you can be fined up to $20,000 for a first offence and up to $40,000 for a second or subsequent offence unless:
- you can prove you required the purchaser to provide their date of birth at the time of sale, or it had been supplied before
- you did not know, and could not reasonably have been be expected to have known, that the alleged offence was committed.
You can also be fined up to $10,000 if you employ or engage a person under the age of 18 to deliver alcohol.
Penalties relating to deliveries will not be enforced until 1 July 2019 to allow time for licensees and delivery providers to prepare for the transition.
Deliveries of alcohol may still be left unattended if the buyer has directly instructed the licensed seller to do so.
A person delivering alcohol must:
- request evidence from the person accepting the delivery of their identity and age
- keep a record of the evidence provided for a period of one year.
If you do not comply with these requirements you can be issued an on the spot fine of $315 and a maximum penalty of $5,000.
Noise and disturbances
As a licensee, you have a responsibility to people who either live, work or worship in the area and must establish and maintain appropriate practices to make sure people coming or going from your premises cause minimal:
- offence
- annoyance
- disturbance
- noise
- inconvenience.
Good management involves surveillance both inside and in the vicinity of the licensed premises, and responding positively to any complaints from nearby residents.
Signage
As a licence holder you must display signs in accordance with the Commissioner’s specification.
Display requirements
Failure to comply with these requirements may result in an expiation or penalty:
- Signs must be printed in the original form as downloaded from the Consumer and Business Services website. No modifications or additions to the form or content of the posters is permitted.
- Signs must be printed in colour on A4 (210 x 297mm) paper.
- Signs must be printed at a sufficient quality to ensure that they are clearly legible.
- Signs must be displayed so that the information contained in them is clearly visible to the public.
- At licensed premises where minors are not permitted to enter, signs must be displayed at or near each entrance.
