Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

Part 1 Core provisions

1 Prohibition of unlicensed sale of alcohol

(1) Alcohol is not to be sold on any premises except under and in accordance with—

(a) a premises licence, or

(b) an occasional licence,

granted under this Act in respect of the premises.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the selling of alcohol—

(a) on exempt premises, or

(b) to trade.

(3) A person who—

(a) sells alcohol, or

(b) knowingly allows alcohol to be sold,

in breach of subsection (1) commits an offence.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (3) is liable on summary conviction to—

(a) a fine not exceeding £20,000,

(b) imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or

(c) both.

2 Meaning of “alcohol”

(1) In this Act, “alcohol”—

(a) means spirits, wine, beer, cider or any other fermented, distilled or spirituous liquor, but

(b) does not include—

(i) alcohol which is of a strength of 0.5% or less at the time of its sale,

(ii) perfume,

(iii) any flavouring essence recognised by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise as not being intended for consumption as or with dutiable alcoholic liquor,

(iv) the aromatic flavouring essence commonly known as angostura bitters,

(v) alcohol which is, or is included in, a medicinal product,

(vi) denatured alcohol,

(vii) methyl alcohol,

(viii) naphtha, or

(ix) alcohol contained in liqueur confectionery.

(2) In this section—

• “beer”, “cider”, “denatured alcohol”, “dutiable alcoholic liquor” and “wine” have the same meanings as in the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 (c. 4), and

• “medicinal product” has the same meaning as in section 130 of the Medicines Act 1968 (c. 67).

3 Certain supplies of alcohol to be treated as sales

(1) A supply of alcohol which is not otherwise a sale of the alcohol is, in the circumstances described in subsection (2) or (3), to be treated for the purposes of this Act as if it were a sale of the alcohol.

(2) The first set of circumstances is where the supply is by or on behalf of a club to, or to the order of, a member of the club.

(3) The second set of circumstances is where the supply is made to, or to the order of, a person pursuant to a right acquired by the person under a contract.

4 The licensing objectives

(1) For the purposes of this Act, the licensing objectives are—

(a) preventing crime and disorder,

(b) securing public safety,

(c) preventing public nuisance,

(d) protecting and improving public health, and

(e) protecting children from harm.

(2) In this Act, references to the “crime prevention objective” are references to the licensing objective mentioned in subsection (1)(a).