Alcohol policy

The alcohol industry is already one of the most highly regulated in the world. As a responsible business, we support policies that are evidence-based, account for drinking patterns, target at-risk groups, treat all forms of alcohol equally, and involve all stakeholders.

We publicly advocate that governments should adopt a minimum legal purchasing age of not less than 18 and a maximum blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level for drivers of no more than 0.08mg.

We also support lower BAC levels for novice and commercial drivers, high-visibility enforcement of drink driving laws, and alcohol interlocks – breathalysers to stop a car from starting if the driver's blood alcohol level is above a certain limit – for high BAC and repeat drink drivers.

In addition we:

• Advocate effective industry-wide standards in responsible marketing and selling
• Provide helpful information for consumers
• Support effective programmes to tackle alcohol misuse

The WHO's global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol presents a menu of policy options and interventions to address alcohol misuse at a national level. This strategy is becoming even more important as countries seek to reduce non-communicable diseases (NCDs), for which alcohol misuse is one of several risk factors.

In May 2013, the UN adopted a Global Monitoring Framework with a target of reducing mortality from NCDs – including heart disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes – by 25% by 2025. One of many associated targets was the reduction of harmful use of alcohol by 10%.

This is a goal we share and that is embedded in every responsible drinking programme we support, every partnership we forge and every campaign we run. We support the balanced and pragmatic approach addressed by the WHO Global Alcohol Strategy and the UN's NCD framework and we work with member states and other stakeholders where we can to achieve these goals.

We are part of an industry-wide programme to encourage the responsible use of alcohol. We were one of 12 leading global producers of beer, wine, and spirits to launch new commitments to reduce harmful use of alcohol in 2012. The members of the IARD work together to actively support the target in the WHO NCD Global Monitoring Framework of “at least 10% relative reduction in the harmful use of alcohol” by 2025.

These commitments cover the following five areas:

• Reducing underage drinking
• Strengthening and expanding marketing codes of practice
• Providing consumer information and responsible product innovation
• Reducing drinking and driving
• Enlisting the support of retailers to reduce harmful use of alcohol

Over the years, we've helped establish many social aspects organisations (SAOs). These are organisations that tackle alcohol misuse and promote responsible drinking. We've worked with SAOs to develop codes of responsible marketing and to raise awareness about responsible drinking.

We are members of the following SAOs and trade associations around the world.

Name	Location	Website
DrinkWise	Australia	www.drinkwise.org.au
Associação Brasileira de Bebidas	Brazil	www.abrabe.org.br
Educ'alcool	Canada	www.educalcool.qc.ca
La Asociación Gremial Chilena de Empresas de Bebidas Espirituosas Pro Consumo Responsible	Chile	www.aprocor.cl
Hong Kong Forum for Responsible Drinking	China	www.fred.org.hk
God Alkoholkultur	Denmark	www.goda.dk
Entreprise et Prévention	France	www.preventionalcool.com
International Alliance for Responsible Drinking	Global	www.iard.org
Hungarian Association for Responsible alcohol consumption	Hungary	www.italmertek.hu
DrinkAware	Ireland	www.drinkaware.ie
Fundación de Investigaciones Sociales A.C.	Mexico	www.alcoholinformate.org.mx
De Stichting Verantwoorde Alcoholconsumptie	The Netherlands	www.stiva.nl
Cheers	New Zealand	www.cheers.org.nz
Romanian Forum for Responsible Drinking	Romania	www.consuma-responsabil.ro
Industry Association for Responsible Alcohol Use	South Africa	www.ara.co.za
Fundación Alcohol y Sociedad	Spain	www.alcoholysociedad.org
Taiwan Beverage Alcohol Forum	Taiwan	www.tbaf.org.tw
Thai Foundation for Responsible Drinking	Thailand
The Portman Group	United Kingdom	www.portmangroup.org.uk
Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility	United States	www.responsibility.org
Vietnam Association for Responsible Drinking	Vietnam	vard.org.vn

 

Trade association	Location	Website
Bulgarian Spirits Association	Bulgaria	www.apitsd.com
Czech Spirits Association	Czech Republic	www.pijsrozumem.cz
SpiritsEUROPE	EU	www.spirits.eu
PPS	Poland	www.pijodpowiedzialnie.pl
Anebe	Portugal	www.bebacomcabeca.pt
Korea Alcohol Research Foundation	South Korea	www.karf.or.kr
Distilled Spirits Council of the US	United States	www.discus.org

We work with various public and private partners to implement evidence based programmes and policies in order to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target of a 10% reduction of harmful use of alcohol by 2030.

The following position papers provide a clear and transparent view of Diageo’s stance on various issues relating to positive drinking.