In this year’s focus operation “Alcohol, Drugs and Youth 2025” by the Czech Trade Inspection, every second inspected business was found to have breached youth protection laws.
The Czech Trade Inspection (ČOI) has presented the results of this year’s focus control “Alcohol, Drugs and Youth 2025” – with alarming findings. Between 15 June and 15 September, inspectors, together with the police, customs administration, and other authorities, conducted 463 inspections. In more than half of the businesses checked (51.3 per cent), breaches of the law were found.
Particularly serious: in 197 cases, alcohol was sold or served to under-18s. In total, test persons under 18 were used in 432 inspections.
The law most frequently breached was that on the protection of health against the harmful effects of addictive substances. Inspectors recorded 257 corresponding offences. In addition to the sale of alcohol to minors, these included missing signs indicating the sales prohibition, breaches of age limits for sales personnel, and the unauthorised sale of tobacco products, e-cigarettes, or nicotine pouches to young people.
No breaches were found in relation to the law on mandatory alcohol labelling or the excise duty law.
The Inspection worked closely with other authorities during the operation: in 407 cases, the Police of the Czech Republic was involved, 75 inspections were carried out with regional hygiene stations, and 72 with the customs administration. The foreign police, municipal police, trade offices, labour inspection, fire brigade, and criminal police also supported the measures.
For proven breaches, the Trade Inspection has so far imposed 23 legally binding fines totalling 491,500 korunas. Further proceedings are still pending.
The control operation clearly showed, according to the ČOI, that alcoholic beverages and other addictive substances remain too easily accessible to minors in the Czech Republic. Protecting the health of young people therefore remains a responsibility for society as a whole, and the Trade Inspection intends to further strengthen its monitoring activities in this area.
