Reasons for Proposal
According to a 2009 survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the social costs of drinking (18.6057 trillion won) are three times higher than the costs of smoking (5.6398 trillion won). As such, drinking contributes to serious crimes such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and driving under the influence and causes substantial collateral damage to the family members of those who drink and other people around them; it has negative consequences on society.
Despite these problems, however, regulations on drinking are lax compared to smoking, which is heavily regulated by designating no smoking areas by law or restricting advertising, which makes it necessary to introduce tighter drinking regulations to raise social awareness about drinking and prevent any harm arising from drinking.
In this regard, this Act aims to introduce warning pictures for drinking, provide a legal basis for the designation of no drinking areas, strengthen regulations on alcoholic beverages, and thereby establish a culture of less drinking while promoting public health.
Details
A. Make it mandatory to display a warning picture indicating the harm of drinking on the container of alcoholic beverages for sale (Article 8 (4)).
B. Allow local governments to designate no drinking areas and ban drinking in such areas by municipal ordinance to prevent harm caused by drinking and promote the health of residents (Article 8-2 newly inserted).
C. Make regulations on alcoholic beverage advertising as strict as the current ones on tobacco product advertising (Article 8-3 and Article 31-2, subparagraph 1-2 newly inserted).
Major Provisions
- Make it mandatory to display a warning picture indicating the harm of drinking, on the container of alcoholic beverages for sale (Article 8 (4)).
- Allow local governments to designate no drinking areas and ban drinking in such areas by municipal ordinance to prevent harm caused by drinking and promote the health of residents. (Article 8-2 newly inserted).
- Make regulations on alcoholic beverage advertising as strict as the current ones on tobacco product advertising (Article 8-3 and Article 31-2, subparagraph 1-2 newly inserted).
