PUTRAJAYA: Come Dec 1, 2017, you will have to be 21-years-old and above in order to buy alcoholic drinks. The new ruling comes about following an amendment to the Food Regulation Act 1985 on May 27.

Among other changes imposed under the regulations include the compulsory display of warning labels, stating that ‘Alcohol consumption has an adverse effect on health’ at the premises and on the label of the drinks.

Announcing this today, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said that under the new ruling, all alcoholic drinks must also be displayed separately from other drinks sold in shops.

He also said a new standard has also been introduced to control the availability of Compounded Hard Liquour (CHL) or cheap liquor, which is produced with a mixture of two or more alcoholic drinks such as vodka, rum or brandy.

These products will be required to be sold in glass bottles with a minimum 700ml content.

The amendment is carried out over Regulation 361 on the general standard for alcoholic drinks and the formulation of the new 386A Regulation for Compounded Hard Liquor, he added. Dr Subramaniam said all these new rulings will take effect on Dec 1, 2017.

“The amendment is in line with the Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol, signed by all health ministers during the World Health Assembly in 2010 to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages in the market.

Many of these cheap alcohol or CHL, usually sold between RM5 to RM7, is creating a social problem among the lower income group, so we want to address this issue.

“As such, we will increase the tax on CHL to RM40 per litre,” he told a press conference today. He said the increase in tax is also aimed at stopping school-going children from buying and drinking alcohol.-nst