Police seeking fiveday liquor licence suspension
POLICE prosecutors say dozens of supermarket operators in the South Island are ‘‘courting danger’’ with their promotional practices, as they face the prospect of a weeklong liquor licence suspension.
Inspector Ian Paulin has sought the suspension of liquor licences for 35 New World stores throughout the South Island for an alleged violation of The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.
The breaches relate to the online promotion of DB Export Gold and Ultra Low Carb products on January 9, when it was advertised at a 26.1% mark down for club card owners.
Under Section 237 1B of the Act, the promotion of discounts of alcohol products of more than 25% is prohibited, unless on licensed premises.
A twoday hearing in front of the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority in the Christchurch District Court ended on Tuesday, with prosecutors seeking a fiveday suspension for all 35 licensees in their closing statements. The police prosecutor also asked the authority to consider a ‘‘negative holding’’ under the Act.
Judge Simon Menzies reserved his decision to a later date.
The prosecution said the facts in the case were ‘‘inarguable’’ and that the licenceholders were trying to ‘‘shield themselves away from liability by hiding behind a complex corporate structure’’.
Centralised online promotions for the supermarket stores is handled by its cooperative Foodstuffs South Island (FSSI).
‘‘Liability should not shift from the licensees, they are responsible for the liability,’’ the prosecutor argued. ‘‘They must bear the burden.’’
On Monday, the authority heard evidence of prior breaches during December.
The prosecution submitted a total of 44 infringements were made on the New World website on December 6, with discounts mostly ranging between 30% and 40%.
Defence lawyer Iain Thain argued the breach was at the ‘‘lower end of the scale’’ and the result of ‘‘an honest mistake’’ because a final pricing check was not carried out at FSSI’s end, which was acting as the agent for the stores.
In response, prosecutors said having the threshold set at this mark was ‘‘courting danger’’ given how often shelf prices could fluctuate per day. ‘‘Imagine any other retailer that wasn’t a supermarket, coming before the authority saying ‘I got someone else to do my advertising, I never check it, I relied on them 100%, we’ve got some vague guidelines’. Never in a million years would you accept that these were reasonable steps.’’ — RNZ