A government report on the potential further liberalisation of Finland's alcohol laws has been completed.
Specifically, the report deals with the topic of allowing wines with an alcoholic content of up to 15 percent to be sold at other outlets as well as by Alko, the state-owned alcohol monopoly retailer.
The report presented three different models for expanding wine sales outside of Alko shops: selling wines in grocery stores and other shops, permitting booze sales in licenced establishments for off-premises consumption, or allowing specialty shops to start selling wine.
The government appointed Antti Neimala to lead the report. Among other things, he has served as a department head at the employment ministry and was Director General and Consumer Ombudsman at the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority.
This is the second alcohol law reform that Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) coalition government has pursued. Last year, the law was changed to allow sales of fermented beverages with alcoholic content of up to eight percent in regular shops.
However, further changing the country's alcohol policy is by no means a given, due to the topic's political sensitivity — particularly for Christian Democrats, a coalition partner in Orpo's government.
The Christian Democrats party has opposed booze reforms on grounds that they would increase the availability of alcohol as well as lead to more booze-related harms.
Last month, the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority said that when the government examines liberalisation of wine sales, it should also determine the retail future of spirits. The authority also noted that liberalising wine sales would significantly weaken Alko's profitability.
An expert from the consumer authority called the proposed reforms a "value choice".
Sunday sales?
Meanwhile, Alko has proposed an alternative to allowing wine sales in regular shops.
The state-owned firm suggested that its outlets could be open on Sundays and stay open later on Saturday evenings. Currently, Alko shops close at 6 pm on Saturdays at the latest and are uniformly closed on Sundays and other public holidays.
Alko also said that liberalising wine sales would hurt the company's bottom line.
In the report, Neimala presented possible benefits of selling wine in regular shops and some potential disadvantages.
The report said that taking wines out of the monopoly system would likely increase consumers' choices and make wine more accessible, due to the increase in availability. Competition would also likely lower prices and prompt the creation of new businesses, it said.
However, the report also noted that reforms could lead to increases in alcohol consumption and booze-related harms. Neimala pointed out that alcohol consumption would not necessarily increase among everyone, but would likely impact people in the most vulnerable positions.
Public opinion in Finland on the matter has shifted somewhat. According to a survey commissioned in January by the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), 42 percent of people in Finland said they think wines with up to 15 percent alcohol should be sold in grocery stores.
In 2022 a similar survey found 54 percent saying so.
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