Liquor Delivery Policy Change

LCRB in BC have just made changes to their Liquor Delivery Policy – Unfortunately this will impact the following Licence holders by placing additional requirements upon them regarding verifying Serve it Right Certification:

Liquor Primary
Food Primary
Licensee Retail Store (LRS)
Rural Licensee Retail Store (RLRS)
Wine Store
Manufacturer with on-site store endorsement

Licensees must now ensure any individual delivering liquor on their behalf is Serving It Right (SIR) certified, including employees or third-party delivery drivers.

When a licensee wants to use a third-party delivery service to deliver liquor, the licensee must now confirm:

Delivery service provider requires that their drivers that deliver liquor are SIR certified

Delivery service only sends liquor orders to drivers that are SIR certified

Delivery service provider ensures drivers are familiar with the additional terms and conditions for delivery drivers (e.g., not delivering to intoxicated persons and complying with age verification requirements)

Fortunately, once a licensee confirms these measures are in place, they do not have to check every driver’s SIR certification when orders are picked up for delivery.

To best protect themselves, Licensees should ensure the SIR requirement for delivery drivers is documented in their agreements with third-party delivery service providers.

This policy thankfully does not require licensees to keep SIR records for third-party delivery drivers.

Common carriers (e.g., Canada Post, FedEx) are exempt from the requirement to be SIR certified under this policy.

On a welcome plus note, delivery services are now not required to deliver liquor on the same day it is purchased. So if someone orders and pays for liquor to be delivered for a party or gathering on another day, the delivery service may take possession of the order, but deliver it on the relevant day, not necessarily on the same business day as it was in the past.
That said, delivery service providers are not allowed to keep a stock of liquor in anticipation of future orders.
The customer must place the order before the delivery service provider can purchase or pick up the order for delivery.