All per­sons or busi­ness places wish­ing to sell in­tox­i­cat­ing liquor (beer, rum, wine and oth­er spir­its) must ob­tain a liquor li­cence pur­suant to the Liquor Li­cences Act Chap. 84:10.There are sev­er­al dif­fer­ent types of li­cences, de­pend­ing on the na­ture of the ap­pli­cant's busi­ness.A spir­it gro­cer's li­cence au­tho­ris­es the sale of in­tox­i­cat­ing liquor in a gro­cery or su­per­mar­ket for con­sump­tion off the li­censed premis­es on­ly, and in any quan­ti­ty, but on­ly in bot­tles.

A spir­it re­tail­er's li­cence au­tho­ris­es the sale of liquor in any quan­ti­ty for con­sump­tion ei­ther on or off the li­censed premis­es.A wine re­tail­er's li­cence au­tho­ris­es the sale of beer and wine on­ly, in any quan­ti­ty for con­sump­tion ei­ther on or off the li­censed premis­es.A wine mer­chant's li­cence au­tho­ris­es the sale of wine or beer on­ly, for con­sump­tion off the li­censed premise on­ly, and in quan­ti­ty not less than 0.75 of a gal­lon of wine, or 1.5 gal­lons of beer at one time.

A restau­rant li­cence au­tho­ris­es the sale or sup­ply of in­tox­i­cat­ing liquor to per­sons tak­ing a meal in the restau­rant for con­sump­tion at such meals. A spe­cial restau­rant li­cence au­tho­ris­es the sale of in­tox­i­cat­ing liquor to the pub­lic for con­sump­tion with­out tak­ing a meal.A spe­cial ho­tel li­cence au­tho­ris­es the re­tail­ing of in­tox­i­cat­ing liquors to the pub­lic for con­sump­tion on the li­censed premis­es.

A spir­it deal­er's li­cence au­tho­ris­es the sale of in­tox­i­cat­ing liquor, for con­sump­tion off the li­censed premis­es on­ly.Any li­censed re­tail­er of spir­its or wine and beer may ap­ply to a li­cens­ing com­mit­tee at any time for an oc­ca­sion­al li­cence, on the oc­ca­sion of any pub­lic en­ter­tain­ment, fes­tiv­i­ty or meet­ing. This type of li­cence is com­mon­ly used for par­ties and fetes.

Li­cences are gen­er­al­ly grant­ed in the name of in­di­vid­u­als. They may al­so be grant­ed joint­ly in the name of more than one per­son. In the case of com­pa­nies, li­cences shall be in the joint name of the com­pa­ny and the man­ag­er or oth­er ser­vant of the com­pa­ny. Gen­er­al­ly a per­son ap­ply­ing for a liquor li­cence must be over the age of 18, and must be of rep­utable char­ac­ter. All ap­pli­cants must be reg­is­tered with the Board of In­land Rev­enue.

Ap­pli­ca­tions for li­cences

An ap­pli­ca­tion must be made in writ­ing to the Li­cens­ing Com­mit­tee of the Mag­is­te­r­i­al Dis­trict in your area at least 21 days be­fore the date of the li­cenc­ing ses­sion. The No­tice of Ap­pli­ca­tion must be lodged with the (1) Po­lice Ser­vice; (2) Fire Ser­vice; (3) Min­istry of Health; and (4) Cus­toms & Ex­cise Di­vi­sion. Ap­proval from the Town & Coun­try De­part­ment for the use of the premis­es for the sale of al­co­hol must be ob­tained, be­fore mak­ing such an ap­pli­ca­tion. A floor plan of the premis­es must al­so ac­com­pa­ny such ap­pli­ca­tions.

The var­i­ous agen­cies (health, fire, cus­toms) each have their own re­quire­ments for var­i­ous types of li­cences, in­clud­ing ad­e­quate wa­ter and drainage, prop­er wash­room fa­cil­i­ties, work­ing fire ex­tin­guish­ers, seat­ing ac­com­mo­da­tions, clear­ly la­belled ex­its and stor­age rooms. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from these agen­cies vis­it the premis­es and sub­mit a re­port on their find­ings to the court. The ap­pli­cant or his at­tor­ney-at-law at­tends court on the hear­ing of the ap­pli­ca­tion at the rel­e­vant ses­sion.

At the hear­ing, any one is en­ti­tled to ob­ject to the grant, re­new­al or trans­fer of a li­cence and may ap­pear in per­son or through an at­tor­ney-at-law.Peo­ple who are found to be sell­ing al­co­hol with­out a li­cence are li­able to a fine and/or im­pris­on­ment.

This col­umn is not le­gal ad­vice. If you have a le­gal prob­lem, you should con­sult a le­gal ad­vis­er. Co-or­di­na­tor: Roshan Ram­char­i­tar