INTERNET users will be able to buy cheap drink online regardless of a ministerial crackdown on cut-price alcohol.
Web experts and retailers have revealed that Scottish ministers will be powerless to prevent supermarket chains and wine clubs offering alcohol promotions over the web, even if they are banned in stores.
Insiders in the retail industry who are fa
cing up to the crackdown in Scotland said they are already considering how the web can be used as a loophole to ensure their customers can still get bargains on beer, spirits and wine.
They said the big stores could set up distribution centres in England, from where supermarket vans could deliver cheaper alcohol to homes across the country.
The move comes as SNP Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill prepares to unveil new plans later this spring banning two-for-one deals on alcohol and imposing restrictions on where drink can be sold in stores.
MacAskill is also to consider setting minimum prices for all drink in supermarkets, off-licences and pubs – adding up to 10% to the price of the average drink.
Scottish ministers have powers to restrict sales on the internet, but only when the produce involved is dispatched from within Scotland's borders. It means that discount deals offered by wine clubs and alcohol sent from supermarket distribution centres south of the border are outside their jurisdiction.
Scotland on Sunday has been told that the idea of setting up large distribution centres south of the border outside of the control of the Scottish Government is already under active consideration by retailers.
Internet experts said the moves would be perfectly within the law. Lars Davies, founder of Kalypton, a consultancy that advises on compliant communications, said: "The Scottish devolved Government can legislate on the point of sale, although its ability to do so on internet transactions may be limited."
John Drummond, of the Scottish Grocers Federation, added: "If supermarkets felt that it was an effective way of getting produce into their customers' homes and there was a demand for it, then this is what they would do.
"Online sales are not a huge element in this at the moment, so it doesn't affect too many people. But that is going to change a lot, and it may be that the SNP Government's plans will change it all the more."
The moves come with MacAskill putting the finishing touches to a new alcohol strategy in which he will ban all cheap drink promotions, such as three-for-two offers.
The Justice Secretary believes off-licences and supermarkets should pay a levy to help tackle the costs of alcohol misuse, including policing.
MacAskill is also to consider moves to set minimum prices on all alcohol in Scotland, potentially increasing costs on drink by 10%.
He will study proposals by anti-alcohol groups, which want a national licensing body to be set up with powers to impose minimum prices for all drink in Scotland. They say the scheme would prevent retailers selling drink below cost price as a 'loss leader'.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are working to set out a clear long-term approach for tackling alcohol misuse and plan to publish our proposals for action for consultation in the spring. At this stage, we are not ruling anything either in or out."
On the question of internet sales, he added: "The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 provides that a premises in Scotland from which alcohol is dispatched under an internet order is required to have a premises licence, just as any other business selling alcohol for consumption off the premises. It will therefore be subject to the same degree of regulation and oversight as other off-sales premises."
