OREANDA-NEWS. June 02, 2014. Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan considered in two readings and adopted the Law "On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of Kazakhstan on state regulation of production and turnover of ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages" at the plenary session.

"The excise rates on strong alcoholic beverages are increasing by 3.2 times in 2014-2016. In this regard, the Government approves new minimum retail prices on strong alcoholic products," Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bakhyt Sultanov said introducing the bill.

The Minister also said that the list of places where the sale of alcohol is prohibited has been proposed to be extended, in particular, territories of health care, education, culture and recreation, sports facilities, stadiums, gas stations have been added to it.

In addition, the time when the sale of alcohol is prohibited, increased - from 9 p.m. to 12 noon.

For alcoholic beverages with strength less than 30 degrees the time of ban on sale remains the same – from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. Responsibility for the sale of alcohol to persons under 21 years has been strengthened.

According to B. Sultanov, the bill also proposes to increase the size of the annual license fee for entities engaged in the wholesale and retail sale of alcohol - from 500 to 3 000 MCI. The bill strengthens the state control and supervision over the turnover of ethyl alcohol and alcohol products.