Provisional Translation
| OTO No. | 462 | Classification | MOF-80 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of Acceptance | July 19, 1991 | Ministry/Agency Receiving Complaint | Economic Planning Agency |
| Responsible Ministries | Ministry of Finance | Related Laws | Liquor Tax Law |
| Complainant | Delegation of the Commission of the European Community (proxy complaint) | Exporting Countries | EC |
| Subject | Relaxation of the requirements for liquor retail sales licenses 1. granting licenses to supermarkets (with a shop floor area of 750 square meters or more) 2. granting licenses for mail order sales of liquor. |
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| Details of Measures | 1. A tax is assessed on liquor, making this an important source of revenue for the national coffers. Liquor manufacturers are the parties who must pay the liquor tax, but given the fact that liquor retailer's act as intermediaries in collecting the tax for them, the Liquor Tax Law employs a licensing system for retail sales of liquor in order to limit the number of retailers and prevent confusion in the marketplace. In accordance with the Law's intention, licenses for retail liquor sales have been administered appropriately according to the rules set forth. However, following the recommendations of the Ad-hoc Council on Administrative Reform in December 1988 and the guidelines for promoting relaxation of regulations adopted by the Cabinet the same month, and due to requests made by the EC, the guidelines were reviewed and amended guidelines for administering the licenses were adopted and implemented in June 1989. Under the revised guidelines, special procedures separate from the regular process for granting licenses have been set up to smoothly grant licenses for retail liquor sales to large stores such as supermarkets and other retailers with a sales floor area of 10,000 square meters or more, given the diversification of retail channels and consumer needs. Accordingly, the supermarkets with a sales floor area of 750 square meters or more referred to in this complaint are handled under the same procedure as ordinary retailers. Handling these retailers as a special case and granting them all retail liquor licenses is not possible, given the intent of the sales license system under the Liquor Tax Law and from the viewpoint of fairness to ordinary retailers. Taking into consideration the implementation of the revised guidelines, the Ad-hoc Council on Administrative Reform and other bodies have made recommendations concerning the liquor retail sales licensing system, taking into consideration changes in the distribution system for liquor and the characteristics of the product. At the 28th Special Complaint Processing Meeting in December 1991, the complainant was advised that this matter would be studied from the international perspective. 2. Regarding licenses for mail order liquor sales, rules have been set up allowing the granting of licenses for mail order liquor sales because of increased demand for liquor which cannot usually be bought from ordinary retailers. The complainant was advised that rules for granting licenses for mail order liquor sales have already been formulated and implemented, as of January 21, 1991, after thorough study of how to collect the liquor tax and prevent minors from having access to liquor. |
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| Classification of Processing | 1. Cc 2. Ca |
Directions | 1. III 2. III |
| Remarks | |||