Section 2 – Minimum price of packages containing more than one alcoholic product
5.Section 2 makes provision in respect of the minimum price of a package containing two or more alcoholic products (for example, a case containing 12 bottles of wine, or a pack containing 6 cans of beer). The price of such packages must be equal to or greater than the sum of the prices at which each product is for sale. This provision only applies where each alcoholic product in the package is available for sale on the premises. This provision means the retailer cannot both sell an alcoholic product individually and offer a discount to the buyer for buying a package containing a multiple of alcoholic products which includes that product.
For example, if a bottle of wine is sold at £4, then a retailer would not be able to sell a package of 2 of those bottles for less than £8. If one bottle of wine is sold for £4 and another bottle of wine is sold for £4.50, a retailer would not be able to sell a package of one of each of those bottles for less than £8.50.
Similarly, a case of 24 x 440ml cans of beer may not be sold at a price less than the cost of buying 24 of those cans (provided that individual 440ml cans of that beer were available for sale on the premises).
6.Sub-paragraph (3) of inserted paragraph 6B provides that the packaging of the bottles or cans in a case does not make the bottle or can a different product. That is, the product is the bottle or can and its contents, not the case. This means that under sub-paragraph (1), a pre-packed package containing multiples of an alcoholic product is not a separate product but a package to which sub-paragraph (1) may apply.
7.The packaging of the alcohol with non-alcoholic products would not affect the rule. That is, in the above example, a non-alcoholic product could be packaged with the 2 bottles of wine or case of beer without the price having to be raised.
8.Section 2(3) makes the same provision in respect of occasional licences granted under the 2005 Act.
