By Sharee Theobalds on Thursday, 31 March, 2022 at 06:20 PM

The wait time for a liquor licence, seasonal licenses, and the minimum age for purchasing alcohol will be raised from 16 to 18 under the new liquor licence regime, which will go into effect on Friday, April 1st, 2022.

Applicants for liquor licences will no longer have to go through the process of a court application to obtain a licence.

Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerrie Symmonds, made that announcement on Wednesday morning as he discussed the pending changes to take effect under the Liquor Licences Act 2021. 

"The old system which we are going away with from the first of April, they are some criminal measures which we are putting to an end, so that you can be fined in the magistrates' court $2500 as a fine, you can be subject to three months' imprisonment, and we do not feel that that is a legitimate way to treat commercial activity in this day and age," he said.

Under the new regime, provisions for licences will also be available to business owners wanting to sell liquor in frequented entertainment areas or during seasonal activities.

This will be done over a period not exceeding three months and the period for seasonal activities shall not exceed 24 hours.

Symmonds explained that "we are at a stage now where we are talking about facilitating growth, where we are talking about making sure that this new regime is able to provide entertainment licences, as to end the agony of those folks who, for example, were forced to go on a weekly basis to renew a liquor licence under the old system".

"The National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) has, according to my information, for the last 20 to 30 years been trying to get governments successively in Barbados to reset the legal age at which we can sell alcohol. When this legislation comes into effect on Friday, the age of sale of alcohol and the age of consumption of alcohol by minors will now be 18 years of age," he said.

Symmonds is hopeful that the days are over where 16 year-olds will be sent to the shop to procure alcohol, or will be employed in the business of sale of alcohol, or be associated with the consumption or sale of alcohol legally.