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Liquor (Amendment) Act 2022

REPUBLIC OF FIJI

LIQUOR (AMENDMENT) ACT 2022

ACT NO. 1 OF 2022

I assent.

W. KATONIVERE
President
[10 February 2022]

AN ACT

TO AMEND THE LIQUOR ACT 2006

ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji—

Short title and commencement

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Liquor (Amendment) Act 2022.

(2) This Act comes into force on a date or dates appointed by the Minister by notice in the Gazette.

(3) In this Act, the Liquor Act 2006 is referred to as the "Principal Act".

Section 15 amended

2. Section 15 of the Principal Act is amended by—

(a) in subsection (1), deleting "3 years" and substituting "5 years"; and
(b) after subsection (2), inserting the following new subsections—

• "(3) For the avoidance of doubt, any licence, except a licence for special use or a temporary licence, issued before the commencement of the Liquor (Amendment) Act 2022 is valid for the remainder of the term of the licence unless the term of the licence is earlier varied or the licence is earlier surrendered, suspended or cancelled.
• (4) Any application for a licence, except for a licence for special use or a temporary licence, lodged before the commencement of the Liquor (Amendment) Act 2022 and is yet to be processed must be processed in accordance with this Act, and any licence issued must be issued for a term not exceeding 5 years.".

Section 43 amended

3. Section 43 of the Principal Act is amended after subsection (5) by inserting the following new subsections—

"(6) Notwithstanding subsection (2), a person may apply for the renewal of a licence after the expiration of the term of the licence if the Authority is satisfied that the person did not apply for the renewal of the licence due to COVID-19 restrictions.
(7) For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of this Act in relation to the renewal of a licence apply mutatis mutandis to an application for the renewal of a licence under subsection (6).".

Section 46 amended

4. Section 46 of the Principal Act is amended by deleting "3" and substituting "5".

Section 48 amended

5. Section 48(3) of the Principal Act is amended by deleting "3" wherever it appears and substituting "5".

Section 86A inserted

6. The Principal Act is amended after section 86 by inserting the following new section—

"Exemption
86A.—(1) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette and subject to any condition the Minister thinks fit, exempt a person from paying the prescribed fee under section 15, 19, 25 or 43 if the Minister is satisfied that the person—

• (a) paid the applicable prescribed fee for the licence issued for the term immediately prior to the term of a licence for which payment of the prescribed fee is due and payable;
• (b) did not sell or supply liquor due to COVID-19 restrictions;
• (c) did not sell or supply liquor for the term of the licence issued, in part or for the entire term; and
• (d) incurred a significant loss of revenue for the term of the licence issued.

(2) Notwithstanding sections 15(1), 15(4), 46 and 48(3), a licence issued to a person exempted under subsection (1) is valid for a term not exceeding one year.".

Passed by the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji this 10th day of February 2022.