The government commission on legislative activity did not support the bill on the introduction of a phased ban on the production, circulation and retail sale of alcohol in a polymer container (PET, abbreviated from polyethylene terephthalate) with a volume of more than 0.5 liters, Kommersant reports.

One of the participants of the commission meeting, at the meeting, came to the conclusion that such a ban would require “substantial investments in re-equipment and replacement of spill lines.” Because of this, in particular, medium and small production will close, beer sales will fall and excise tax revenues will decrease. A similar ban on the production or circulation of alcohol in PET containers with a volume of more than 1.5 liters, introduced on January 1, 2017, has already demanded re-equipment of the process equipment of the brewing industry, the commission said.

In addition, since about 80% of polymer consumer packaging is produced at Russian enterprises, their production volumes and tax revenues from them will decrease. Finally, the ban “will lead to higher prices for brewing products and, accordingly, a shift in consumption towards stronger alcoholic beverages, as well as the replacement of legal alcoholic beverages with cheaper counterfeit and illegal alcohol.”

According to the bill submitted to the State Duma in April 2018, the ban on PET containers more than 1 liter should come into force by 2019, more than 0.5 liter by 2020 (with the exception of products for export).

Earlier it was reported that beer production in Russia in 2017 decreased by 2.4% compared with 2016, to 744 million deciliters.