Legal advice: Will the new Portman Group code affect me?

The Portman Group's 4th Edition Code of Practice banning shooters and slammers, reported in The Publican (June 19), does not apply to retailer-led promotional activities and materials. For this reason it has been condemned as 'toothless' in the press recently. Of course, as with so much else that is reported about the industry in the popular media, this is not strictly true.

There is a general expectation that retailers should comply with the spirit of the code. More specifically, paragraph 5.7 makes it clear that if a retailer continues to stock a product or display point-of-sale (PoS) material which has been found in breach of the code by the Independent Complaints Panel, the Code Secretariat may "notify the relevant licensing authority and request it to take this into account… when considering whether to grant, transfer, renew or revoke licences".

While clearly the language has not been updated to reflect the mechanisms of the Licensing Act 2003, it is worth remembering this power and being wary of the fact that products still calling themselves 'shooters' and 'slammers' may well be ruled in breach after January 1, 2008. If this happens, then continuing to stock these products might be something of which the licensing authority has already been made aware should premises ever find themselves the subject of a review.

The Group cannot bring a review itself but the police, for example, may wish to call evidence from it at a hearing. Furthermore, if these products do end up being banned under the code, PoS promotions of them would certainly qualify as 'irresponsible' if the premises were the target for enforcement activity or review proceedings - and 'irresponsible drinks promotions' are prohibited under the conditions on many a premises licence.