Liviko head welcomes abolition of Estonia's alcohol register
Estonia's government will close the state alcohol register from 1 November. Janek Kalvi, chairman of the board of alcohol producer Liviko, says the move will reduce bureaucracy for producers and importers.
Janek Kalvi, chairman of the management board of the Estonian alcohol producer Liviko, has welcomed the government's decision to close the state alcohol register from 1 November. In his view, the step will significantly reduce the bureaucratic burden on alcohol producers and importers, who until now had to enter their products in the register.
Kalvi told the ERR portal that, from the industry's perspective, the decision can only be welcomed. He recalled that when the register was created, almost half of the alcohol consumed in Estonia was smuggled, so strict state supervision and constant control were fully justified. Now, he said, it has become a burdensome, bureaucratic and often entirely incomprehensible institution.
The burden on companies
Kalvi explained that every product that was developed or imported had to be entered in the register, with samples delivered or sent to it. Even a tiny and unimportant change meant submitting a sample again. Registering new products often led to disputes with register officials over the correct way of handling the paperwork, and these were frequently disagreements on legal questions.
Responsibility remains
He stressed that abolishing the register does not remove the duty of producers and importers to obey the law. The companies themselves are responsible for the legality of production and documentation, and several supervisory and control bodies will remain in Estonia after the register closes. Kalvi believes consumers have no reason to worry: nothing will get worse, while the industry's work will become simpler.
What the closure means
As reported earlier, Estonia's alcohol register, in operation since 1994, will stop working on 1 November 2026. Sellers will no longer have to enter alcoholic drinks in the register or renew the relevant entries. For ordinary residents, the register was a convenient tool for quickly checking a drink's legality and origin and for finding its exact composition, actual strength and official importer.
