Scaling alcohol control policies across Europe

Abstract

Aim: One of the tasks in the Bridging the Gap (BtG) project was to create a scale to measure the strictness of alcohol control policies in Europe. The countries included were all the current EU member states as well as three applicant countries plus Norway and Switzerland (BtG countries).

Methods: Alcohol control measures were divided in seven subgroups. The weights in scoring different alcohol policy measures were based on the evidence of effective alcohol policy. In order to validate the scores given to different alcohol policy measures a kind of Delphi technique was used. The data for the scale was gathered from the country information provided by the BtG Alcohol Policy Network, and from other relevant sources, as for instance the WHO Alcohol Control Database.

Findings: According to the BtG scale alcohol control policies are most strict in Northern European countries. Countries with low alcohol control include wine-producing countries. A common feature for these countries is that none of them have instituted a positive excise duty for wine. Central European beer-preferring countries and the new EU member states from Eastern Europe belong to medium alcohol control countries.

Conclusions: The scale offers an easy instrument for comparing different countries. At the same time it is a simplistic tool, which should be used cautiously.