Poland's Sobriety-Law Rewrite Could Restrict Non-Alcoholic Beer, Brewers Warn

Poland's parliament is considering several amendments to the country's law on upbringing in sobriety, and the brewing industry warns the proposals could impose restrictions on non-alcoholic beer alongside alcoholic drinks. In an interview with forsal.pl, Bartlomiej Morzycki, director general of the Union of Employers of the Brewing Industry Browary Polskie, said as many as five separate amendment bills to the single law appeared over the course of a year, one of which was later withdrawn for procedural reasons.

Morzycki argued that the bills, now before a special parliamentary subcommittee, sidestep the main problems of alcohol abuse and concentrate disproportionately on beer. He noted that the brewing sector has driven the shift toward moderate consumption by investing heavily in its non-alcoholic segment, and said the wider debate on fighting alcoholism has drifted strangely toward alcohol-free products.

What the bills propose

According to Morzycki, the most far-reaching provision would ban the domestic sale of non-alcoholic beer on the grounds that it resembles alcoholic beer. He told forsal.pl that both bills under discussion would place zero-percent drinks on the same restrictive footing as alcohol.

He described one striking consequence: under the proposals the production and sale of vodka would remain legal, while the sale of non-alcoholic beer would become illegal. Morzycki also pointed to imprecise drafting. In one bill, he said, the definition of a non-alcoholic beverage was tied to an advertising ban in a way that would also capture products such as apple juice and kefir.

Brussels raises objections

The proposed rules on online advertising have drawn scrutiny from the European Commission, which flagged a possible breach of the e-commerce directive. Morzycki said the Commission stressed that one member state cannot interfere in the legislation of another country where a website or digital service is registered.

He added that both bills met a wide range of comments from the Commission and some EU member states. Poland, he argued, cannot unilaterally impose restrictions on legal products that form part of legal trade within the European Union, and any health-driven limits must remain proportionate when the same goal can be reached by other means.

A shrinking market

Morzycki said the case for tougher rules is weak because the Polish market is steadily contracting and alcohol consumption is falling. Existing measures, he noted, are already producing the expected effect: the excise map, a plan of predictable excise increases, and a night-time ban on alcohol sales in some cities.

He framed the campaign against zero-percent products as advanced lobbying by product categories for which non-alcoholic beer has become real competition, rather than a genuine public-health effort, and pointed to a global, bottom-up shift as consumers voluntarily move to alcohol-free alternatives. He also warned that penalties in the bills are becoming more severe while the wording remains vague, leaving sanctions open to differing interpretation.