Translated material
Vintage innocence
Russians are asked to remember Prohibition
There is less than a week left until the day when alcoholic beverages with old excise stamps will be declared illegal and therefore removed from sale. From July 1, 2006, when, according to the new version of the law “On state regulation of the production and circulation of ethyl alcohol,” a ban on the sale of such alcohol comes into force, paralysis may occur on the market, experts unanimously warn.July may begin with a widespread shortage of alcohol, market players say. True, some claim that the problem is related to a shortage of new brands, while others believe that the main difficulties lie elsewhere: enterprises did not equip production lines with equipment for sticking new brands on time. The Federal Customs Service, for its part, assures that new stamps have been issued to everyone in the required quantity since the end of March.
True, consumers of one of the main Russian goods do not care why wine and vodka counters in stores will thin out. The excise problem, coupled with the ban on the sale of Moldovan and Georgian wines and the activities of Rospotrebnadzor to check the quality of domestic alcohol, confuses buyers who are already unaccustomed to the shortage of this product. And although many hypermarkets have notices that the lack of alcohol is only a consequence of the store administration’s direct compliance with the requirements of the law, it is still difficult for customers to understand why a large retail chain is prohibited by law from selling legally produced alcohol.
According to Vadim Drobiz, a representative of the Union of Alcohol Market Participants, new brands were introduced on January 1, but the corresponding legislative and technical framework has not yet been formed. Because of this, importers have still not arranged the import of alcohol and are expecting a massive return of unsold products. According to the head of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Valery Draganov, entrepreneurs are suffering only temporary difficulties, after overcoming which and the entry into force of all the provisions of the new law on state regulation, including the creation of the Unified State Automated Information System (USAIS), not all of the market should disappear, but only low-quality alcohol.
But, given that the government is already ready to postpone the introduction of the Unified State Automated Information System (for which factories also need to purchase expensive equipment that transmits information to the system) until February next year, as it became known on Thursday, relief from difficulties cannot be expected soon. The Association of European Businesses in Russia reminds that to this day the rules and procedure for the return of imported products from retail and their relabeling have not been approved, while for domestic products such rules were approved on May 25. A government decree on relabeling imported products can only be signed at the beginning of this week, and then operators will have a few days to take all actions.
Today, none of the market participants, officials and analysts can predict with much confidence how long the “alcohol revolution” will last. The fact is that no one can even roughly estimate how much alcohol with new excise stamps is on the market; the figures vary from 5 to 20%. Even if products with old brands are returned to suppliers and manufacturers on time for relabeling, due to the lack of equipment, suppliers do not guarantee that relabeling will occur. The stamps are actually re-glued by hand, and many factories assure that this will take at least a month or two.
In the provinces the situation is even more complicated. If in Moscow alcohol is sold mainly by large stores, which will sooner or later solve the problem with brands, then in many regions the market for alcohol-containing products has a significant share of individual entrepreneurs, who, as of July 1, are completely deprived of the right to sell alcohol by law. To continue their business, they are required to register a legal entity - LLC, CJSC or OJSC - and obtain a new license. At the same time, only those whose paid-up authorized capital exceeds 200 thousand rubles will be allowed to re-register.
According to representatives of the all-Russian organization for supporting small businesses OPORA, changes in the law can completely kill the sale of alcohol in small retail outlets, which will be felt even by adherents of Prohibition. After all, if small retail trade is forced to leave the alcohol sales market, it will be more profitable for neighborhood shops to close, and residents will have to go to hypermarkets for every loaf of bread.
Considering that as a result of all the shake-ups, only beer and vodka may remain legally available in stores in a large assortment (vodka factories were the first to worry about purchasing new brands), many Russians will have little choice. According to VTsIOM, vodka remains a traditionally popular drink among Russians. In 2006, almost every second Russian indicates that he buys vodka at least sometimes. And an artificially created shortage of low-strength alcoholic drinks is unlikely to contribute to changing these taste preferences. So, a poorly prepared fight against low-quality alcohol may result in part of the market simply going into the shadows, where no one except the “consumer” will check the quality of alcohol.