Restaurants lose CZK 215bn due to hard liquor ban

Prague, Sept 19 (CTK) - Czech bars and restaurants have already lost Kc215m on sales owing to the ban on the sale of spirits containing more than 20 percent of alcohol introduced last Friday, according to a poll conducted by the Association of Hotels and Restaurants (AHR).

On average, bars and restaurants are losing one fifth of their sales (Kc40m) daily.

One half of restaurants has registered a 10-percent fall of sales, one quarter has recorded a 20-percent drop and the remaining restaurants have seen a decrease of 30 up to 40 percent, AHR said.

Twenty-three people have died of bootleg alcohol containing poisonous methanol since September 6, when the first death was reported, and tens of other people are in hospital.

The government is already working on a solution to the situation. The production data of the alcohol in storage facilities are to be checked and the bottles re-stamped. New alcohol should get a laboratory-tested "birth certificate" that would make it possible to trace the drinks back to the producer and contain the description of the composition of the drink, Prime Minister Petr Necas said yesterday.

The state should abolish the ban on the sale of provably unharmful batches of liqueur, the Czech Association for Branded Products (CZSV) said in a letter sent to Health Minister Leos Heger yesterday.

The association respects the government's extraordinary measures aimed at protecting citizens' health. However, if the prohibition lasted longer, it would, on the contrary, lead to increased health risks and negative social and fiscal impacts, CZSV said.