CHAPTER 167
LIQUOR LICENSING ACT

Arrangement of Sections

   Section

PART I
PRELIMINARY

   1.   Short title

   2.   Interpretation

   3.   Non-application of Act

PART II
LICENSING

   4.   Application for license

   5.   Notice of intention to object

   6.   Grant of license

   7.   Restrictions relating to grant of license

   8.   Rejection of application for license

   9.   Display of license

   10.   Variation of license

   11.   Surrender of license

   12.   Transfer of licenses

   13.   Power to carry on business after death, etc., of licensee

   14.   Removal of license

   15.   Amendment of license

   16.   Renewal of license

   17.   Cancellation and suspension of license

   18.   Permitted hours

   19.   Registers of licenses

   20.   Register to be evidence

   21.   Regard to be had to register

   22.   Inspection of register

PART III
APPEALS

   23.   Establishment of Tribunal

   24.   Appeal to Tribunal

   25.   Appeal to High Court

   26.   Rules of Tribunal

PART IV
REGULATION OF SALE OF INTOXICATING LIQUOR

   27.   Selling liquor without license

   28.   Brand reliability and alcohol content

   29.   Prohibition of sale, etc. of liquor except during permitted hours

   30.   Liquor of kind not authorised by license not to be kept on premises

   31.   Supply of liquor to employees

   32.   Consumption of liquor in public place

   33.   Prohibited concoctions, brews and drinks

   34.   Prohibited production

   35.   Child or certain persons not to be employed in licensed premises

   36.   Restriction on sale, etc. of liquor to children

   37.   Licensee not to permit violence, etc.

   38.   Power to exclude drunkards, etc., from licensed premises

   39.   Prohibition of using licensed premises as brothel

   40.   Closing of premises in case of riot

   41.   Forfeiture of license by Minister

   42.   Disposal of stock in hand where license is forfeited

   43.   Power to require structural alterations

PART V
CONTROLS AND INSPECTIONS

   44.   Inspection of premises

PART VI
GENERAL PROVISIONS

   45.   Offences by licensee or employee

   46.   Offences in general

   47.   Proof of licenses, etc.

   48.   Evidence of sale, etc.

   49.   Search warrant

   50.   offences and forfeitures

   51.   Notice of conviction of licensee to be given to owner

   52.   Temporary license pending appeal

   53.   Regulations

   54.   Repeal of Act 1 of 1959

AN ACT

to regulate the manufacture, possession, sale and supply of intoxicating liquors; repeal and replace the Liquor Licensing Act, 1959; and provide for matters connected with, or incidental to, the foregoing.

[15th April, 2011]

Act 20 of 2011.

PART I
PRELIMINARY

1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Liquor Licensing Act.

2. Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“authorised officer” means a principal officer, a health inspector or a police officer;

“bar”, in relation to any licensed premises, means any open drinking bar or any part of such premises exclusively or mainly used for the sale and consumption of intoxicating liquor;

“beer” means any drink which is brewed from grain or vegetable matter;

“child” means a person under the age of eighteen years;

“de-natured spirit” means an intoxicating liquor which, by the addition of some substance, is rendered unfit for use as a beverage;

“health facility” has the meaning assigned to it in the Health Professionals Act, 2009;

“health inspector” means an officer appointed as such by a local authority or the Ministry responsible for health for purposes of enforcing the provisions of this Act;

“hotel” has the meaning assigned to it in the Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2007;

“intoxicating liquor” includes any spirits, wine, ale, beer, porter, cider, perry or other potable liquor containing more than three percent of proof spirits;

“license” means a liquor license granted under the provisions of this Act;

“licensed premises” means any premises in respect of which a license is in force;

“licensee” means the holder of a license;

“licensing committee ”means a licensing committee of a local authority established pursuant to the Local Government Act;

“liquor” means —

      (a)   any spirit, wine or beer which contains three percent or more by volume of alcohol, excluding methylated spirit;

      (b)   fermented, distilled, spirituous or malted drink which contains three percent or more by volume of alcohol; or

      (c)   any drink or concoction which the Minister may, by statutory instrument, prescribe to be liquor;

“local authority” means a district, municipal or city council established under the Local Government Act;

“meal” means any substantial refreshment or food served to, and consumed by, a person at a licensed premises and to which the sale of intoxicating liquor may be ancillary;

“officer in charge of police” has the meaning assigned to it by section two of the Zambia Police Act;

“police officer” means a police officer above the rank of sergeant;

“principal officer” has the meaning assigned to it in the Local Government Act;

“permitted hours” means the hours of the day during which intoxicating liquor may lawfully be supplied in licensed premises;

“proof spirits” means spirits which, at a temperature of eleven degrees celsius weigh twelve thirteenth parts of an equal measure of distilled water, and includes intoxicating liquor containing over 1.713 percent of alcohol by volume or 1.363 percent of alcohol by weight;

“public place” means any building, premises, conveyance or other indoor or outdoor area, whether privately or publicly owned, to which the public have access by right or by invitation, whether by payment of a fee or not, but does not include a place used exclusively by one or more persons for a private gathering or other personal purpose;

“register” means a register of licenses kept under section 19;

“repealed Act” means the Liquor Licensing Act, 1959;

“sealed ”, in relation to a container or vessel, means hermetically sealed or closed with a plug, stopper or cap and so secured that the container or vessel cannot be opened without the destruction of such plug, stopper or cap or of some other substance;

“spirits” includes distilled liquor of any description, and all mixtures, compounds and preparations made with such liquor, and any fermented liquor containing more than fifty percent of proof spirits;

“traditional beer ”means—

      (a)   the drink which is brewed from grain or other vegetable matter and is commonly known as local beer; and

      (b)   such other intoxicating liquor as the Minister may, by statutory instrument, prescribe; and “Tribunal” means the Appeal Tribunal established under section 23.

3. Non-application of Act

This Act does not apply to—

      (a)   any medical doctor or pharmacist administering or selling for purely medical purposes any bonafide medicine containing intoxicating liquor;

      (b)   any person selling any spirituous or distilled perfume or perfumery, medicated or methylated or otherwise de-natured spirits or any medicated wine;

      (c)   the sale of intoxicating liquor on any aircraft in flight over the Republic in the course of a normal passenger service;

      (d)   the sale of intoxicating liquor by any person acting under the order of a court or selling the intoxicating liquor forfeited to the Government;

      (e)   the sale of intoxicating liquor by an executor, administrator or trustee in bankruptcy where such liquor forms part of the estate of a deceased or bankrupt person who was not a licensee;

      (f)   the sale by private arrangement of intoxicating liquor which is the residue of a reasonable stock held for private consumption by a person about to leave the Republic;

      (g)   the sale of intoxicating liquor to members of the Defence Force by any bonafide organisation engaged in supplying food or drink solely to such members and approved as such by the Minister; or

      (h)   the sale of intoxicating liquor, in any canteen approved for such purpose by the Minister, to members of the Zambia Police Force, Defence Force or Zambia Prison Service.

PART II
LICENSING

4. Application for license

   (1) An application for a license shall be made in the prescribed manner and form to the appropriate licensing committee.

   (2) A licensing committee shall not consider an application for the grant of a license unless —

      (a)   the applicant has given at least fourteen days’ notice of the applicant’s intention to make the application in accordance with sub-section (3); and

      (b)   the applicant has, not less than fourteen days before the application is made, lodged with the licensing committee a plan of the premises in respect of which the application is made, together with a certificate from the planning authority that the said plans have received its approval.

   (3) The notice referred to in paragraph (a) of sub-section (2) shall be made in the prescribed form and shall be published by the local authority concerned at its offices, and put in not less than ten conspicuous public places in its area and on its website, and the period of fourteen days mentioned in paragraph (a) of sub-section (2) shall be calculated from the date of the last publication of the notice.

   (4) A licensing committee shall, in considering an application for the grant of a license —

      (a)   take into account—

      (i)   the social and welfare consequences which the business or undertaking to be conducted in terms of the license will have for the residents of the area of the local authority concerned;

      (ii)   whether the business or undertaking to be conducted in terms of the license is likely to create a public nuisance or annoyance in the vicinity of the business;

      (iii)   the need to avoid the establishment of licensed premises within three hundred metres of an educational institution, health facility or a church;

      (iv)   the suitability of the premises upon which the licensed business or undertaking is to be conducted relating to the safety, health and town planning requirements in respect of accommodation and sanitary facilities;

      (v)   the possibility of a monopolistic condition in the liquor trade which is detrimental to the public interest being created or aggravated by the grant of the license; and