Alcohol laws in Germany
The tax rates for alcoholic beverages in Germany are below average compared to the rest of Europe, and there are very few regulations governing availability.
Because of moral panic involving excessive alcohol use among minors (a 16-year-old boy died after having consumed 45 shots of tequila in a bar in early 2007),[17] some people demanded that the drinking age be raised.
[6] A study by the RWI Essen found a correlation between reaching the age of 16 and then starting to consume significantly more alcohol and committing more crimes.
[19] The Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen [de] (German Centre for Addiction Issues) recommends raising the drinking age for all alcoholic beverages in Germany to 18 years.
[20] The German Cancer Research Center calls for raising the drinking age in Germany to a uniform 18 years for all types of alcoholic beverages.
[21] In a representative survey conducted on YouGov in 2015, a majority of the 1252 participants were in favor of raising the minimum age for light alcoholic beverages in Germany to 18.
[22] In a survey conducted by the MDR, 85% of the approximately 19,000 participants were in favor of a general ban on the sale of alcohol to under-18-year-olds in Germany.
[24] In 2008, the federal state of Lower Saxony started a series of trap purchases, conducted by specially trained police cadets, aged 16 or 17, who pose as customers.
In 2009, about 3000 trap purchases were carried out in Lower Saxony, in 1327 cases (44%) alcohol was sold without age verification to underage persons.
In the state of Baden-Württemberg the Bußgeldkatalog for violation against the "Protection of Young Persons Act" provides following fines:[26] Public parties are prohibited nationally on Good Friday, and regionally on other holidays such as All Saints' Day.
Exceptions are sometimes made in the context of football (soccer) matches involving rival teams, where police executives may ban the sale of alcoholic drinks inside stadiums and deny entrance to drunk people.
In 2009, the private railway company Metronom, which operates in parts of Northern Germany, introduced a much-discussed complete ban on alcohol onboard their trains.
However, occupational safety legislation has since tightened down and has induced a significant decrease of alcohol consumption during working hours.
[31] In addition to fines, impaired drivers are generally given points in the Fahreignungsregister ("driving aptitude register", colloquially Verkehrssünderkartei, "traffic sinner index"), which is managed by the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt ("Federal Motor Transport Authority") in Flensburg.
The law has to be placed at every public event and establishments selling or serving alcoholic beverages.
