The much awaited new mandatory licensing conditions now sit before Parliament for approval.

Their content will cause much debate amongst the trade and regulators as all concerned consider their merits over the coming weeks.

Conditions 1,2 and 3 come into force on the 6th April 2010 whilst 4 and 5 give the trade further time to prepare before they are introduced on the 1st October 2010. Conditions 1, 3 and 5 do not apply to premises licences where it authorises only the sale by retail off the premises.

The five conditions are:

1.—(1) The responsible person shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that staff on relevant premises do not carry out, arrange or participate in any irresponsible promotions in relation to the premises.
(2) In this paragraph, an irresponsible promotion means any one or more of the following activities, or substantially similar activities, carried on for the purpose of encouraging the sale or supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises in a manner which carries a significant risk of leading or contributing to crime and disorder, prejudice to public safety, public nuisance, or harm to children–
(a) games or other activities which require or encourage, or are designed to require or encourage, individuals to–
(i) drink a quantity of alcohol within a time limit (other than to drink alcohol sold or supplied on the premises before the cessation of the period in which the responsible person is authorised to sell or supply alcohol), or
(ii) drink as much alcohol as possible (whether within a time limit or otherwise);

(b) provision of unlimited or unspecified quantities of alcohol free or for a fixed or discounted fee to the public or to a group defined by a particular characteristic (other than any promotion or discount available to an individual in respect of alcohol for consumption at a table meal, as defined in section 159 of the Act);

(c) provision of free or discounted alcohol or any other thing as a prize to encourage or reward the purchase and consumption of alcohol over a period of 24 hours or less;

(d) provision of free or discounted alcohol in relation to the viewing on the premises of a sporting event, where that provision is dependent on–
(i) the outcome of a race, competition or other event or process, or
(ii) the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring;

(e) selling or supplying alcohol in association with promotional posters or flyers on, or in the vicinity of, the premises which can reasonably be considered to condone, encourage or glamorise anti-social behaviour or to refer to the effects of drunkenness in any favourable manner.

2. The responsible person shall ensure that no alcohol is dispensed directly by one person into the mouth of another (other than where that other person is unable to drink without assistance by reason of a disability).

3. The responsible person shall ensure that free tap water is provided on request to customers where it is reasonably available.

4.—(1) The premises licence holder or club premises certificate holder shall ensure that an age verification policy applies to the premises in relation to the sale or supply of alcohol.
(2) The policy must require individuals who appear to the responsible person to be under 18 years of age (or such older age as may be specified in the policy) to produce on request, before being served alcohol, identification bearing their photograph, date of birth and a holographic mark.

5. The responsible person shall ensure that–
(a) where any of the following alcoholic drinks is sold or supplied for consumption on the premises (other than alcoholic drinks sold or supplied having been made up in advance ready for sale or supply in a securely closed container) it is available to customers in the following measures–
(i) beer or cider: ½ pint;
(ii) gin, rum, vodka or whisky: 25 ml or 35 ml; and
(iii) still wine in a glass: 125 ml; and
(b) customers are made aware of the availability of these measures.