Wine Law

LEGAL PROTECTION OF THE CONSUMER OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES 253 f) relieving one’s physiological needs in open spaces or outside the services enabled for this purpose; g) the permanence and concentration of people who are consuming drinks or carrying out other activities that endanger the peaceful coexistence of citizens in areas adjacent to a health centre or in its surroundings; and h) the consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors in open spaces. In any other events or matters, apart of this regional regulation, the legal regime concerning alcohol consumption on public roads is municipal in Spain, so, to analyse the specific legal regimes of this practice, it is necessary to look to the Ordinances approved by the Town Halls in plenary session 20 . With a mere indicative character and a homogenising effort, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP in Spanish) has at the disposal of the nearly nine thousand Spanish municipalities a Regulatory Ordinance model for the misuse of alcoholic beverages. Article 17(2) of this model contemplates the prohibition of the alcohol consumption on public roads, unless authorised 21 . Likewise, it prohibits, under the responsibility of the owner, manager, person in charge or legal representative of the activity, that consumers take alcoholic beverages out of the establishment onto the public highway. II.2.4. R OAD SAFETY One of the sectors in which the consumption of alcoholic beverages is traditionally prohibited above certain levels is motor vehicle driving for obvious road safety reasons. In this sense, article 14 of Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of 30 October, which approves the revised text of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety, prevents the driver of any 20 According to the procedure regulated in articles 132 and 133 of Law on Common Administrative Procedure of the Public Administrations (LPAC in Spanish), 20(1)(c) LBRL and 82(2), 123 and 126 of the Regulation on the Organisation, Functioning and Legal Regime of Local Bodies (ROFEL in Spanish). 21 This authorisation is intended for the celebration of festivities, festivals or concerts. These licences are contemplated in article 8 (“Popular Festivities”) of the referred standard ordinance: “a) Activities related to the sale and consumption of alcohol on public roads on local celebrations or popular festivities, must have the corresponding municipal licence. Its concession or refusal will be adjusted to its specific regulations, as well as the requirements and conditions established in this Ordinance. b) For safety reasons, in those mass events such as concerts or other similar events held with municipal authorisation that include the possibility of dispensing alcoholic beverages, these will be served in plastic cups, not allowing in any case glass or crystal containers, as well as cans or similar. c) Holders of the concession for the installation of a bar or other similar classified activity, must display in a place visible to the public: That they have an activity licence for the supply and/or consumption alcoholic beverages.”.