Siluanov: The Ministry of Finance supports the sale of alcohol on the Internet

The Russian government does not yet have a unified position on the issue of selling alcohol on the Internet, but the Ministry of Finance supports this initiative. About this at parliamentary hearings on the budget in the Federation Council stated Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

The topic of online sales of alcohol is quite controversial and was discussed in the government, Siluanov said. “We have departments that support, in this case the Ministry of Finance supports. There are departments that are categorically against it. There are pros and cons to this proposal. We believe that there are more advantages,” he clarified.

According to the minister, it is necessary to restore order and establish control over the sale of alcohol online. A lot of burnt alcohol is sold on the Internet and there is no way to overcome this, since these “sites are closed today, and two open tomorrow,” the head of the Ministry of Finance added.

“There are points of view of other departments with which we do not yet have agreements and we do not yet have a unified government position. We hear, we will form the government’s opinion,” Siluanov emphasized.

Previously, the Association of Retail Trade Companies (AKORT) spoke against the initiative to legalize the remote sale of alcohol, as this creates risks for consumers. Chairman of the Presidium of AKORT Igor Karavaev believes that the number of sites that will sell alcohol online will increase, while Russia does not yet have a mechanism to combat counterfeit alcohol products on the Internet.

The possibility of liberalizing the trade in alcohol is being actively discussed in 2022. Initially, it was planned to conduct an experiment with the online sale of Russian wines through Russian Post from the fall of 2023. The Government Commission approved its implementation from November 1, 2023 to July 31, 2026. The Ministry of Finance was involved in the development of the bill , in the spring of 2023 it was submitted to the State Duma, but in mid-June it became known that discussion of the bill in parliament was suspended.

A bill from Senator Andrei Klishas on the legalization of online trading was also submitted to the State Duma. According to the initiative, the permit will only be valid if the seller is included in the register of persons owning sites for the remote retail sale of alcohol. Rosalkoregulirovanie will maintain such a register. The Ministry of Industry and Trade supported the idea of ​​the bill. In the Ministry of Industry and Trade supported idea of ​​the bill. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs saw in the legalization of online sales of alcohol the risk of weakening state control over the circulation of alcohol, wrote “Vedomosti”.