The Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission and the Highway Safety Division Conduct Minimum Age Purchase Law Compliance Checks

The effort is conducted in conjunction with the MADD Youth in Action Program

The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) and the Highway Safety Division will conduct minimum age purchase law compliance checks through 2009. The objective of this operation is to prevent the sale of alcoholic beverages to underage individuals by licensed establishments throughout the Commonwealth. The primary focus is to educate licensees and to increase their vigilance in the checking of identification. To achieve this objective the ABCC’s Investigation and Enforcement Division conducts Compliance Checks in cooperation with the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Youth in Action Program.

“These compliance checks are very effective in creating awareness among licensees of the importance of checking ids,” said State Treasurer Tim Cahill who oversees the ABCC. “It is meant more as an educational tool, than an enforcement action and it has been very successful in the past.”

Overall the program has resulted in a 50% decrease in the failure rate since the program began. Further, when follow up compliance checks are conducted in areas with high failure rates there is a consistently lower failure rate and very often a 0% failure rate.

In 2008, through Highway Safety Division funding, compliance checks were conducted in 107 municipalities across the commonwealth. There were 1575 licensed establishments checked, of which 209 failed. This represents an 87% success rate.

During the compliance checks an underage individual will go to a licensed establishment and attempt to purchase an alcoholic beverage. If they are asked for ID, they simply leave. No further discussion is allowed under the guidelines. If they are sold the alcohol, an investigator informs the store owner/manager of the compliance check and advises them of the violation. They will receive a hearing notice from the ABCC to appear before the Commission. If the licensee asks the underage person for identification, MADD sends them a letter to let them know about the compliance check and congratulating them for asking for an id.

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