Bills on currency, minor alcohol consumption ban enter legislation process
The government presented two legislative bills to parliament yesterday. The first bill relates to currency establishment and issuance. The second bill concerns banning the sale to, and consumption of, alcohol by minors.
When presenting the currency bill, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong stressed the existing law – Decree-Law No 7/95/M – will be 27 years old this year. Accordingly, he said a new law is required to cope with future developments.
The bill proposes adding digital currency to the types of currency considered legal tender in Macau. Furthermore, the bill proposes governance over commemorative notes and the trading thereof.
Adjustments to the circumstances in which physical currency must be accepted are also proposed, and refusing to accept such physical currency is proposed to constitute an administrative violation. The process through which currency will be retrieved may also be subject to changes.
In relation to the second bill on the sale and consumption of alcohol, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong stressed harmful drinking has become a public health issue of paramount importance. Citing the World Health Organization, she stated three million people succumbed to complications from excessive alcohol consumption each year.
Locally, the proportion of youths with a history of drinking rose from 70.8% in 2003 to 82% in 2018, the Secretary said, according to government five-year surveys.
The bill proposes the definition of ‘alcoholic beverages’ be expanded to include beverages with an alcohol concentration of more than 1.2%. Under the bill, selling and providing these drinks to minors, hiring or instructing minors to sell or provide these drinks, and selling or providing these drinks to minors remotely will be banned. The bill additionally proposes banning the sale and consumption of such drinks in public venues by minors.
It is also proposed that notices outlining the law be mandatorily displayed at vendors of alcoholic drinks.
