OREANDA-NEWS  The Federation Council has approved a law allowing the sale of alcoholic beverages in summer (seasonal) cafes. This is reported by TASS.

The document, which the State Duma adopted the day before in the second and third readings, amends the law "On State regulation of the production and turnover of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products and on limiting the consumption (drinking) of alcoholic beverages." According to the changes, alcohol will be allowed to be sold in "seasonal customer service halls", which are an integral part of a stationary restaurant or cafe.

According to current legislation, the sale of alcohol in summer courtyards and on verandas is prohibited in Russia. For such a violation, a restaurant can be fined 100-300 thousand rubles, its employees by 30-40 thousand rubles, and visitors by one and a half thousand, Kommersant reminds. It is expected that the changes approved by the deputies will work from June 1.

As Denis Kravchenko, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, noted, taking into account the positive experience of Moscow, which previously allowed alcohol on verandas, there is no reason for the worries of critics of the project. According to the metropolitan ombudsman of the restaurant market, Sergei Mironov, we are talking about "some kind of legal conflict", since Russians had often consumed alcoholic beverages on verandas before, and "no one specifically forbade anything, just did not allow it on time." At the same time, the inspection bodies retained the grounds for detecting violations.