VietNamNet Bridge – Making distilled liquor at home and at traditional alcohol villages will stop when the new regulations stipulate that from 01/01/2013, all kinds of alcohol must have labels and the production of alcohol must be licensed.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet, the owner of a distilled liquor enterprise in Bai Say 3 village, Tan Dan commune, Khoai Chau district, Hung Yen province completely had no idea about the Decree 94. The photo was taken on Dec. 27, 2012 by Lao Dong.

This is a sound policy, as it relates directly to the health of the people. However, as being noted by reporters on December 27, the implementation of this provision did not reach both the liquor distillers and drinkers.

Decree No. 94/2012/ND-CP of the Government on wine production and trade (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 94) requires organizations and individuals producing distilled liquor to have a license and their products must be labeled. If they sell liquor to beverage companies for reprocessing, they must register with the commune-level government. During transportation to the place of consumption, the alcohol producers must present a contract signed with liquor companies that have alcohol producing licenses to the competent authority in case of inspection.
 
The Decree takes effect from 1/1/2013, but according to a survey of liquor distilling areas from the South to the North, most of them were not aware of this provision. If they knew, they said that this regulation would be invalid very soon.
 
Ms. Nguyen Thi Tam, who manages a wine production facility in To village, Ta Thanh Oai commune, Thanh Tri district, Hanoi, the place famous for its artisanal winemaking history for hundreds of years, calmly said: "I produce liquor to sell to the villagers so I do not need to register. Besides, if there is such a provision, who will supervise it? So, we do not really care about it."

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Binh, the owner of a famous liquor shop in the village of Dai Lam, Tam Da commune, Yen Phong district, Bac Ninh province, said: "This provision is hardly feasible, because who will stand out for label management?”

Even Mr. Pham Ngoc Lieu, Chairman of Trung Hoa commune, Chuong My District, Hanoi, where is the home to Chi Ne, a traditional wine making village, completely did not know about Decree 94. "I have not seen any documents about it. Tomorrow (28/12) I will check."

Chairman of My An Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District, Da Nang City, Mr. Tran Van Thanh, said he had never heard of that decree. He said: "We do not have any documents guiding this. Of course all population groups and the liquor makers and traders are not aware of this new policy."

Similarly, in An Vinh Ngai commune, Tan An city, Long An province and Phu Kiet commune of Cho Gao district, Tien Giang Province, most of the households producing liquor did not know about the policy. Their distilleries are very simple, just including a few pots, water tanks, pipes... Each day they produce a few dozen liters of wine to serve the local market. Profit from liquor is very modest but they have wine dregs to feed pigs. It will be very difficult for them to satisfy the new conditions on liquor production and trade.

Mr. Do Van Tep, the owner of Tam Tep distillery in An Vinh Ngai commune, said he had never heard of Decree 94 and even his son, a commune official, also did not know about it.

Being informed of the new policy, Tep said: "If it is implemented, I will stop distilling liquor because our business is very small so we cannot meet the regulations."

"Wine villages" to "evaporate"?

Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh, the owner of a liquor distillery in the village of Chi Ne, said: "Decree 94 might kill the traditional liquor processing trade, because we have never thought of having to register for a product which never leaves the village as liquor."

Mr. Nguyen Van Su, a liquor distiller in Voc Village, Vu Ban commune, Binh Luc district, Ha Nam province, said: "It should have built a Vietnamese wine brand in general, so I support this policy. But we need sometime for preparation. If the policy is implemented right now, it will kill our liquor making trade."

Mr. Hoang Dac Tu, former Chairman of Tam Da commune, Yen Phong district, Bac Ninh province, said: "I usually go to the village of Dai Lam to buy alcohol and I know that the liquor here is just sold round the area, so it is difficult to talk about the future of traditional alcohol distilling.

In Van village, Van Ha commune, Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province, which is very famous for liquor distilling, only about a dozen families have registered and certified with liquor production. The remaining families have small production scale and do not have the conditions to register a trademark.

Decree 94 is effective throughout the country while a large number of villages have produced distilled liquors for a hundred years and most of producers do not have production registration, for example, corn liquor of the Mong people in Ban Pho village, Bac Ha district, Lao Cai province; Mau Son liquor of the Dao people in Loc Binh District, Lang Son province... The application of this decree at this time is similar to killing traditional alcohol making villages.
 
Lao Dong