Section 60. Inducements to retailers; beer and wine tapping equipment; bottle or can openers; spirits back-bar pedestals; banquet licensees; paper...

A. Any manufacturer, importer, bottler, broker, or wholesaler, or its representative, may sell, rent, lend, buy for, or give to any retailer, without regard to the value thereof, the following:

1. Draft beer or wine knobs, containing advertising matter which shall include the brand name and may further include only trademarks, housemarks and slogans and shall not include any illuminating devices or be otherwise adorned with mechanical devices which are not essential in the dispensing of draft beer or wine; and

2. Tapping equipment, defined as all the parts of the mechanical system required for dispensing draft beer in a normal manner from the carbon dioxide tank through the beer faucet, excluding the following:

a. The carbonic acid gas in containers, except that such gas may be sold only at the reasonable open market price in the locality where sold;

b. Gas pressure gauges (may be sold at cost);

c. Draft arms or standards;

d. Draft boxes; and

e. Refrigeration equipment or components thereof.

Further, a manufacturer, bottler or wholesaler may sell, rent or lend to any retailer, for use only by a purchaser of draft beer in kegs or barrels from such retailer, whatever tapping equipment may be necessary for the purchaser to extract such draft beer from its container.

B. Any manufacturer, importer, bottler, broker, or wholesaler, or their representatives, may sell to any retailer and install in the retailer's establishment dispensing accessories (such as standards, faucets, rods, vents, taps, tap standards, hoses, cold plates, washers, couplings, gas gauges, vent tongues, shanks, and check valves) and carbon dioxide (and other gases used in dispensing equipment) at a price not less than the cost of the industry member who initially purchased them, and if the price is collected within 30 days of the date of sale.

C. Any beer tapping equipment may be converted for wine tapping by the beer wholesaler who originally placed the equipment on the premises of the retail licensee, provided that such beer wholesaler is also a wine wholesaler licensee. Moreover, at the time such equipment is converted for wine tapping, it shall be sold, or have previously been sold, to the retail licensee at a price not less than the initial purchase price paid by such wholesaler.

D. Any manufacturer, bottler or wholesaler of wine or beer may sell or give to any retailer, bottle or can openers upon which advertising matter regarding alcoholic beverages may appear, provided the wholesale value of any such openers given to a retailer by any individual manufacturer, bottler or wholesaler does not exceed $20. Openers in excess of $20 in wholesale value may be sold, provided the reasonable open market price is charged therefor.

E. Any manufacturer of spirits may sell, lend, buy for or give to any retail licensee, without regard to the value thereof, back-bar pedestals to be used on the retail premises and upon which advertising matter regarding spirits may appear.

F. Manufacturers of alcoholic beverages and their authorized vendors or wholesalers of wine or beer may sell at the reasonable wholesale price to banquet licensees glasses or paper or plastic cups upon which advertising matter regarding alcoholic beverages may appear.

G. Manufacturers, importers, bottlers, brokers, or wholesalers of alcoholic beverages, or their representatives, may not provide point-of-sale advertising for any alcoholic beverage or any nonalcoholic beer or nonalcoholic wine to retail licensees except in accordance with 3VAC5-30-80. Manufacturers, importers, bottlers, brokers, and wholesalers, or their representatives, may provide advertising materials to any retail licensee that have been customized for that retail licensee (including the name, logo, address, and website of the retail licensee) provided that such advertising materials must:

1. Comply with all other applicable regulations of the board;

2. Be for interior use only;

3. Contain references to the alcoholic beverage products or brands offered for sale by the manufacturer, bottler, or wholesaler providing such materials and to no other products; and

4. Be made available to all retail licensees.

H. Any manufacturer, importer, bottler, broker, or wholesaler of wine, beer, or spirits, or its representatives, may sell, lend, buy for, or give to any retail licensee clip-ons and table tents.

I. Any manufacturer, importer, bottler, broker, or wholesaler of alcoholic beverages, or their representatives, may clean and service, either free or for compensation, coils and other like equipment used in dispensing alcoholic beverages, and may sell solutions or compounds for cleaning alcoholic beverage glasses, provided the reasonable open market price is charged.

J. Any manufacturer, importer, bottler, or wholesaler of alcoholic beverages licensed in this Commonwealth may sell ice to retail licensees provided the reasonable open market price is charged.

K. Any licensee of the board, including any manufacturer, bottler, importer, broker as defined in § 4.1-216 A of the Code of Virginia, wholesaler, or retailer who violates, attempts to violate, solicits any person to violate or consents to any violation of this section shall be subject to the sanctions and penalties as provided in § 4.1-328 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR125-01-3 § 6, eff. December 12, 1985; amended, Volume 03, Issue 01, eff. November 12, 1986; Volume 04, Issue 06, January 21, 1988; Volume 05, Issue 02, eff. November 24, 1988; Volume 06, Issue 02, eff. November 23, 1989; Volume 07, Issue 04, eff. December 19, 1990; Volume 08, Issue 06, eff. January 15, 1992; Volume 09, Issue 06, eff. January 13, 1993; Volume 10, Issue 11, eff. March 23, 1994; Volume 18, Issue 23, eff. August 28, 2002; Volume 21, Issue 19, eff. June 29, 2005; Volume 26, Issue 11, eff. March 5, 2010; Volume 30, Issue 06, eff. December 18, 2013.

Statutory Authority

§ 4.1-111 of the Code of Virginia.