Sweden wants to ban online sales of alcohol

The government of Sweden has proposed a new law that will make it illegal for online shops to sell alcohol to Swedish consumers. The new rules are envisaged to enter into force on 1 January 2018. The law is most likely to go against the EU regulations and the European Union has declined such proposals before. Still it can be bad news for some wine sellers.

The website Ecomony.com broke the news, it explains the government has plans to achieve the ban on online sales of alcohol by putting the responsibility of actually moving the goods on the buyer, who subsequently also has to pay the alcohol tax on the imported products. In other words, if the law passes, it will become practically illegal for Swedes to buy alcohol online from another EU country.

With the new law in force, customers need to arrange the transportation of their alcoholic goods with a third party and also pay the alcohol tax, which is nowadays paid to the government by the seller.

It will be hard to pass the law

The government plans aren’t welcomed by all institutions in Sweden. The Swedish Public Health Agency for example doesn’t think a ban of the online sales of alcohol will be beneficial to public health in the country. The agency and other institutions also think it’s hard to pass the proposed law, as it would most likely go against the current EU regulations. The European Union wants a free movement of goods and banning online sales of alcohol doesn’t comply with this.