The Isle of Man Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has been asked by different sectors of the trade to make changes to the range of legal quantities by which alcohol is sold – these include the metrication of the 1/5 gill legal quantity for sales of specific spirits and the introduction of other legal quantities including a ? pint and 2/3 pint for sales of draught beer. These requests are driven in part by concerns about the continued availability of 1/5 gill measuring equipment and also in part by the need to promote sensible drinking and facilitate events such as wine tastings and beer festivals.  Whether or not any such changes would be supported by consumers is open to debate and so the OFT is undertaking a public consultation on a number of proposals it has put forward for changes to the legal quantities for sales of intoxicating liquor.
 
The OFT would welcome any comments on the proposals.
 
Electronic copies of the consultation document and a link to a free online survey tool are available on the OFT’s website at http://www.gov.im/oft/consultations.gov.  Additional copies of the consultation document can be obtained from the OFT by telephoning (01624) 686526. 
 
Comments should be submitted in writing by post, fax, email or using the free online survey tool no later than 5 pm on Friday 4th January 2013 to:
 
Chief Inspector of Trading Standards
Isle of Man Office of Fair Trading
Government Building
Lord Street
Douglas
Isle of Man
IM1 1LE
Tel: (01624) 686526; Fax: (01624) 686504; Email: iomfairtrading@gov.im
 
The OFT will consult further and in more detail once any secondary legislation necessary to make changes to the legal quantities for sales of intoxicating liquor has been drafted.
 
To ensure that the process is open and honest and in line with the Government’s Code of Conduct on Consultation, responses can only be accepted if you provide your name with your response.  Any abusive or offensive responses will be disregarded.
 
Unless specifically requested otherwise, any responses received may be published either in part or in their entirety.  Please mark your response clearly if you want it to remain confidential.  Confidential responses will be included in any statistical summary, e.g. in the number of responses received.