The National Assembly has approved the proposal to ban advertising for alcohol products with volumes of more than 15%.

It was announced during a meeting with the Standing Committee of the National Assembly discussing a draft law on September 17.

Ministry of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said alcoholic beverages could cause addiction and said to be a cause for cancers by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). 

That's why alcoholic drinking can cause huge socio and economic impacts and the authorities must prepare preventive measures.

Alcoholic consumption in Vietnam among people aged 15 years and older was 4.4 litre per person in 2014, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam. 

Data from the World Health Organisation in 2016 shows that the average consumption per person was 8.3 litres. 

Vietnam has about 100 large-scale breweries, producing 3.8 billion litres in 2016 and 4 billion litres in 2017. 

The authorities have issued licenses to 167 large-scale distilleries and 599 household distilleries. 

According to WHO, alcoholic-related spending accounted for 1.3-3.3% of a country's GDP. Vietnamese spending on alcoholic beverages last year reached nearly USD4bn.

The National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs approved the plan to reduce the supply, demand, and harmful impacts of alcoholic beverages. 

While admitting the benefits the industry has brought to the economy, the NA committee also said discussions about the methods to limit the access of alcoholic beverages to the public needed to be discussed. 

As the result, the committee said it was necessary to reduce advertising. 

The committee approved a ban on advertising for alcoholic beverages with 15% proof.

Tienphong/Dtinews