The poisoning of 33 teenagers with alcohol, including those younger than 15, at the nightclub Siner on Valentine's Day, is shocking, but not entirely surprising given how lenient the penalties are in Serbia for selling and serving liquor to minors, while there is no ban on consuming it for that population at all, experts who advocate stricter punishment of offenders with higher fines, as well as temporary closure of premises that serve alcohol to children, say for Kurir.
Specifically, according to the Law on Public Order and Peace (Article 21), the penalty for selling alcohol to a minor who has not reached the age of 16 is a monetary one, ranging from 20,000 to 100,000 dinars for the responsible person, from 200,000 to 500,000 dinars for legal entities, and from 50,000 to 200,000 dinars for entrepreneurs. Surprisingly, according to this law, serving alcohol to minors who have reached the age of 16 is not punishable.
However, under the Consumer Protection Act (Article 23), the sale, service, and giving of alcoholic beverages to persons under 18 years of age are prohibited, and the penalty for a legal entity is 50,000 dinars. In case of suspicion that the consumer is under 18 years of age, the seller is not obliged to sell or serve alcohol until the consumer presents a personal document.
Negligible sanctions in Serbia
Jovan Ristić, a lawyer at the consumer organization Efektiva, tells Kurir that punishing those who sell alcohol to minors depends on whether the police or market inspector has intervened.
“The advantage of the market inspector going out into the field is that he issues a misdemeanour warrant on the spot. Essentially, it is good that we have a ban on selling alcohol to minors in the Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits sales and services to those under 18, not 16. The fine of 50,000 dinars in the law has not been changed since 2021, inflation has skyrocketed since then, and I believe it should be increased to stop the sales chain. I think that only punishing minors would not yield results because children can easily get alcohol. They ask someone over 18 to buy it for them, so I believe that punishing those who sell would yield better results.”
Ristić also points out that when a hospitality provider is caught in the act, it is not uncommon for their operations to be suspended.
“If the offense is more serious, closure is also possible. In any case, monetary fines should be increased to discourage individuals from selling alcohol to minors. The primary responsibility lies with the parents, and then with those who sell alcohol to children. Legal regulations prohibiting minors from entering nightclubs must also be respected, followed by laws on alcohol sales.”
Limit for consuming liquor
- In 13 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, and Slovakia), the minimum age limit for purchasing alcohol is the same as for consuming alcoholic beverages.
- In Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and Portugal, the minimum age limit for alcohol consumption applies only to public spaces.
- In Estonia, alcohol consumption is permitted only from the age of 18, but there are no established regulations for purchasing.
- In the United Kingdom, in England, Wales, and Scotland, children aged 16 or 17 are allowed to consume beer, wine, or cider with a meal in the company of an adult, but they can only buy it at 18.
- In Sweden, the legal age for serving alcohol (in restaurants) is 18 years.
- Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia, as well as Serbia, do not impose any age restrictions on alcohol consumption.
Lawyer Slavka Babić agrees that in such cases, the greatest responsibility lies with the parents, but also that the hospitality provider or organizer who serves alcohol is legally responsible.
“The Tourist Inspection controls the operations of hospitality establishments, thus having the authority to penalize individuals who sell, serve, or give alcoholic beverages to persons under 18 years of age, but it does not have the authority to penalize minors who consume alcohol,” Babić points out for Kurir, adding:
Limit for selling alcohol to minors
- In 21 EU member states, children cannot buy alcohol at all.
- In Belgium, Denmark, and Germany, minors over the age of 16 can buy drinks with less than 1.2 percent alcohol, and from the age of 18, stronger ones as well.
- In Sweden, the minimum age for buying alcohol with more than 3.5 percent is 20 years.
- In Cyprus and Malta, minors aged 17 can buy alcohol, and in Luxembourg, they can at 16.
- In Austria, there are two different age limits - 16 or 18 years - depending on the region and the percentage of alcohol involved.
- * Data from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
“Monetary fines for selling and serving alcohol to minors should certainly be higher than they are currently in our country, and temporary closure of catering facilities should be introduced as a punishment as well. Additionally, it should be legislated that individuals under 18 years of age are prohibited from entering nightclubs.”
Practice abroad
When it comes to practices abroad, selling alcohol to individuals under 18 is prohibited in most EU countries, under 16 in Austria, Croatia, and Montenegro, and under 21 in the USA, where the highest age limit is also in place, along with the strictest penalties.
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In Ireland and the USA, penalties also apply to minors
Money, useful labour, and even jail
In Ireland, a minor caught drinking alcohol or pretending to be 18 or older to purchase alcohol faces a fine of 500 euros. In the USA, individuals under 21 who attempt to purchase alcohol are subject to a fine of up to $100 and/or 24-32 hours of community service, plus a one-year driver's license suspension (if the offender does not have a driver's license, they will have to wait an additional year to obtain one). The penalty for young Americans who purchase alcohol or are caught possessing it is $250 and 24-32 hours of community service plus license suspension as in the previous case.
Additionally, in Montenegro, fines for selling alcohol to individuals under 16 range from three to twenty times the minimum wage, which is €450 there. This means that the minimum fine is €1,350 or 158,180 dinars, while the maximum fine could be as much as €9,000 or 1,054,530 dinars.
Last year, Croatia increased fines for selling alcohol to individuals under 16 tenfold through amendments to the Law on Offenses against Public Order and Peace, and they now range from 200 to 1,000 euros..
Penalties in the region and abroad
- In Montenegro, fines for selling alcohol to individuals under 16 range from three to twenty times the minimum wage, which is €450 there.
- In Croatia, fines for selling alcohol to individuals under 16 range from 200 to 1,000 euros.
- In Germany, fines for providing and allowing children to consume alcoholic beverages range from 500 to 3,000 euros.
- In Ireland, the penalty for selling alcohol to individuals under 18 is €5,000 plus a closure order.
- In the USA, misdemeanour fines for supplying alcohol to a person under 21 range up to $5,000, and criminal fines over $50,000 and even imprisonment up to five years, depending on the circumstances.
As a reminder, 33 teenagers were hospitalized at the MMA after a Valentine's Day party at the Siner Club due to alcohol poisoning, with some having as much as 2.8 per mille of alcohol in their blood.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation announcing criminal charges against a minor in whose possession a bag of marijuana was found, while the police announced misdemeanour charges against the party organizer for serving alcohol to minors..
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