The legal framework for the production of alcohol for personal use within the European Union

This is important, given that drinking is a risk factor for many health conditions, including cancers, liver diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as a major contributor to injuries and violence. Importantly, there is not just one type of unrecorded (and untaxed) alcohol, which can reach the consumer from very different sources. For example, ‘surrogate alcohol’ is non-beverage alcohol that is not intended for human consumption, such as aftershave or hand sanitizer. Another type is alcohol that is legally produced, but untaxed due to national tax exemptions, which is the focus of this study.

What is alcohol for ‘personal use’?

Alcohol, which is legally produced, but not subject to excise taxes under legal tax exemptions, is usually referred to as alcohol for ‘personal’ or ‘family’ use; although these exemptions may also include special provisions for small-scale producers, such as kits for home-brewing beer or small-scale wineries nominally producing wine for their personal and family use. It may also apply to a product allowance for workers in the production chain, with varying limits per country and alcohol type. Through this research, we aimed to gain a better understanding of this little-studied type of unrecorded alcohol in the EU, through a review of national excise duty legislations of EU Member States, and interviews of national alcohol experts from different countries.

Up to 11 beers a day for ‘personal use’. How much is allowed across different EU Member States?

We found that in at least 14 EU Member States, alcohol can be produced legally and untaxed for ‘personal use’. , these tax exemptions applied to beer, wine, and fermented beverages, but Austria allowed the artisanal production of spirits. Very few of these countries imposed an upper limit for personal production, and where limits were specified, these were generally very high. For example, the Czech Republic allows an annual beer production of up to 2000 litres for own consumption, including household members, guests, and relations. This works out at just under 11 beers (500 ml bottle) or almost 220 grams pure alcohol per day. The experts interviewed highlighted that this type of alcohol is often among the most important contributors to unrecorded alcohol in their countries, especially for alcohol-producing countries with little cross-border shopping (such as, the Czech Republic or Slovenia). See table 1.

A balancing act between economic and public health interests

Our findings suggest that the tax exemptions follow a cultural tradition of alcohol production, with traditional beer-brewing countries (e.g., the Czech Republic and Germany) having special regulations for beer, and wine-producing countries (e.g., Croatia and Slovenia) allowing untaxed wine production for ‘personal’ and ‘family’ use. While these exemptions may be in the interest of stimulating and supporting local small-scale production, their importance for public health appear to be neglected. For example, the German minister of finance (Christian Lindner) has recently proposed a raise in the upper limit for personal alcohol production from 200 to 500 litres per annum, and wants to end mandatory registration for private beer brewing in . This is put forward as a measure to reduce bureaucratic burdens, but the proposal fails to acknowledge the critical role alcohol excise taxes play in monitoring and protecting public health.

Conclusion

From a public health perspective, taxation is the backbone of alcohol control policy, regulating the affordability of alcoholic products. If tax exemptions on alcohol are granted at all, they need to be limited to specific production levels, which are mindful of the health harms caused by alcohol. And, most importantly, we need to ensure that governments can enforce compliance with health-protecting regulations.

The article is written by

Carolin Kilian, PhD, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada

Fleur Braddick, MA, Clínic Foundation for Biomedical research – August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (FRCB-IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain, and

Jürgen Rehm, PhD, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health & Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; and Programm on Substance Abuse & WHO Collaborating Centre, Public Health Agency of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain

on the request of PopNAD