Youth drinking laws under review.

22 Mar, 2006

In an attempt to standardise youth drinking laws across the country, Austrias Minister for Social Affairs, Ursula Haubner, has presented a draft paper to be discussed by representatives from all nine provinces. The paper proposes that the general age limit for drinking alcohol should remain at 16, while curfews for over-16s should be lifted. The draft does not include restrictions on spirits for under-18s, which may prove to be a controversial point in discussions, as some provinces are particularly attached to their ban on high-proof alcohol. The nine provinces currently have very different regulations on curfew hours, drinking age limits and type of alcohol that can be served: in Salzburg under-18s cannot purchase schnapps, whereas in Carinthia they can drink whatever they like, for example, while Vorarlberg imposes a curfew on under-18s who must be home by 02.00 and Tyrol has no curfew at all.