No sign of booze law as alcohol back on the shelves

Bottles of imported wine and alcohol are back on the shelves of major supermarkets around Yangon despite there being little movement on the part of the government to pass legislation that would legalise its sale outside of select hotels and duty-free shops.

Alcohol venders around Yangon took down their imported liquor stock early last month after following a series of government raids on distributors that resulted in the confiscation of tens of thousands of bottles of alcohol, which reappeared

December 31 in time for New Year’s celebrations.

“We just wanted to sell the products where taxes are already paid through duty-free shops, even if the import procedure is not yet clear,” said Daw May Zin Soe Htet, spokesperson for local supermarket chain City Mart.

“Our company wants to continue selling [imported alcohol] with the same prices, but that will depend on how much we have to pay for them through duty-free shops,” she said, adding that City Mart had received several requests to offer alcohol for the New Year’s holiday.

Other markets around the city have also begun restocking their shelves with imported liquor, though the decision did not come easy for some.

“Selling these products came from the board of director’s decision to do so,” said an official at downtown Yangon’s Sein Gay Har Supermarket. “We stored our products for several weeks in our warehouse and in late December we have decided to put them back,” the official said, adding that those bottles for sale have been prescreened by the Internal Revenue Department.

Since the Ministry of Commerce raids on alcohol sellers accelerated in November, the government has promised to expedite legislation that would make the process of importing alcohol legal and transparent, saying it would be finished as soon as last month. It now appears such legislation is not likely to pass until March, said one official at the Ministry of Commerce.

“We already submitted language [to parliament] a few months ago and it has been delayed. It is likely they still reviewing it,” he said.

A representative at the Economic and Trade Development Committee, who have the legislation, said that the next stage of passing the law would be to discuss it during the upcoming parliamentary session on January 13. He asked not to be named.

With no law in place, other officials are worried that rampant smuggling of imported liquor will become commonplace as demand remains high in areas that are now in short supply.

“This is not just about placing excise taxes on products. If government doesn’t approve license soon with demand as high as it is, the traders will naturally start to break the law,” said U Win Myint, parliament representative and member of the Banks and Monetary Affairs Development Committee.

The government banned importing alcohol and certain foodstuffs in 1995 as part of an effort to protect local production of goods. To get around the ban, some businesses have been known to collaborate with hotels to import additional alcohol products that are then sold to restaurants and retailers, while others simply import through illegal channels.

In an effort to keep costs down, some local manufacturers have been known to make liquor using toxic ingredients, said U Win Myint.

“If the government allows imported branded products, such products will become limited because everyone will have access to imported goods,” he said.

source: The Myanmar Times

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/9185-no-sign-of-booze-law-as-alcohol-back-on-the-shelves.html