After alarms about Danish youth drinking the most in Europe, the Folketing voted in 2023 for a plan on alcohol prevention, which has now become a law that comes into effect on Tuesday.
As a result, Danish 16-year-olds are prohibited from buying drinks with up to 16.5 percent alcohol, which now has an 18-year age limit. The youth will be able to buy, for example, beer in stores, but not drinks with an alcohol content higher than 6 percent.
The new rule applies to both physical stores and online stores.
"We will (continue) to do what we can to guide and inform the industry, parents, and young people, so that stores can follow the rules in the best possible way," says Stine Pedersen at the Sikkerhedsstyrelsen in a press release.
If a store sells high-alcohol drinks to young people, it risks fines of 50,000 Danish kronor, equivalent to over 70,000 Swedish kronor.
The Sundhedsstyrelsen recommended in 2022 that no one under 18 years old should drink alcohol, among other things due to a study that showed that nearly 60 percent of Danish 15-16-year-olds had gotten drunk in the past month, compared to 20 percent in Sweden.
