Preventing contraventions

• Liquor acts, regulations, and terms and conditions 
• Cannabis acts, regulations, and terms and conditions.

On this page

• Prevent liquor or cannabis sales to a minor
• Check ID guidelines
• Prevent liquor or cannabis sales to an intoxicated patron
• Evidence of due diligence

Prevent liquor or cannabis sales to a minor

Selling liquor or cannabis to a minor is a serious contravention that could lead to enforcement action. Minors as Agents Program (MAP) inspections monitor whether licensees and their staff are verifying age by checking ID of patrons who are underage. 

Here are some reasonable steps to prevent liquor or cannabis sales to a minor: 

• Creating policies and systems for age verification by checking ID
• Refusing service if acceptable ID is not available to prove the patron is not a minors
• Posting ID signs at your entrance about ID requirements and hours when minors are permitted
• Training staff about the licence terms and conditions, such as job shadowing
• Monitoring staff compliance through ongoing supervision, meetings, performance reviews, and testing. For example:
  • Secret shopper programs
• Structuring the layout of your establishment to ensure a clear line of sight to supervise patrons

Checking Identification (ID) 

Licensees can download ID signs from our website and post them at their establishment.

Check ID if there is any doubt a person is a minor and be alert to signs of a fake ID. Modern technology is making fake ID's more convincing and some are even scannable. Questioning the patron about the attributes on the ID is another barrier that can prevent minors from illegally entering the establishment and buying liquor or cannabis. Learn about the security features of an authentic BC Services Card.

Pictures of ID are not acceptable because they're difficult to authenticate. 

However, if there is no doubt that a patron is a minor (i.e., they are a senior citizen), you do not need to ask for their ID.

Licensed establishments have discretion to establish their own ID verification policies. Some licensees may choose to check ID of all patrons, this is a business decision.

You can find a sample policy statement for checking ID of underage patrons in the: 

• Serving It Right manual (p. 119-120)
• Cannabis - Selling It Right manual (p. 67-69)

Prevent liquor or cannabis sales to an intoxicated patron

Selling liquor or cannabis to an intoxicated patron is also a serious contravention that could lead to enforcement action. 

Examples of reasonable steps to prevent this contravention are:

• Training staff about the signs of intoxication and ensuring they have a responsible service certificate
  • Signs of intoxication are covered in the Serving It Right and Selling It Right courses
• Writing your own policies to ensure staff consistently refuse service to a patron showing signs of intoxication
• Keeping an incident log of intoxicated patrons and the action you took to remove them and ensure they depart safely
• Sharing information about incidents with all staff

You can find a sample policy statement in the: 

• Serving It Right manual (p. 121-122)
• Selling It Right cannabis manual (p. 70-71)

Evidence of due diligence

Make sure to document these policies and systems. 

If a contravention occurs, eligible licensees can present these systems as part of a defence of due diligence at an enforcement hearing. Successfully proving a defence of due diligence means that a licensee avoids facing a penalty.