The draft regulations were released for public submissions on July 1, with a separate paper outlining a proposed new fee schedule for liquor licences released last month.
The introduction of a new fees regime is the major change to the licensing system under the new laws.
The favoured proposal is a risk-based fees system where the liquor outlets that pose higher risks and generate higher costs pay a higher fee.
That would mean, in some cases, major cost increases to renew licences within the hospitality industry.
It would also mean savings for ratepayers.
Dunedin City Council liquor licensing and projects officer Kevin Mechen said ratepayers subsidised about half the cost of administering and monitoring liquor licences in Dunedin.
The current national standard fee for an on-licence or off-licence is $793, typically paid once every three years.
The Government says that only covers about 56% of the costs of the licensing system, meaning ratepayers are subsidising the alcohol industry by about $5.4 million a year.
Under the Government's favoured new system, the whole cost would be carried by the licensees.
Licensed premises would be attributed a risk weighting based on the type of licensed venue they were, their closing times, and the history of previous enforcements against them.
Under the new scheme most premises would be categorised as medium risk, meaning their annual licence fee would increase to $850.
All premises would effectively have their previous enforcement records wiped clean as of December 18 this year, when the regulations are to come into force, but after that a premises that becomes high risk could end up paying more than $2000 a year for their licence.
Some licensees have already expressed concern that the risk-weighting system is unfair to on-licence premises.
Duke of Wellington licensee Michael McCarrigan said he believed the proposed fee schedule unduly favoured supermarkets and bottle stores.
It did not achieve the bigger-picture aim of reducing alcohol-related harm because it did not target the outlets where people accessed the most alcohol, he said.
''A supermarket, for example, will be deemed a lesser-risk category because of their hours. It's a complete stitch-up. If they want to change the attitude to drinking they shouldn't penalise the on-licence.''
He would be making a submission.
Mr Mechen said he had been working with licensees over the proposals and the Ministry of Justice held a meeting about them in Dunedin earlier this month.
He was starting work on a local alcohol plan and preparing for the advent of district licensing committees (DLC), which will take over responsibility from council staff considering contested and uncontested liquor licence applications.
The new regulations will be required before the Act comes fully into force on December 18, the day DLCs will start.
Justice Minister Judith Collins said the proposals provided an opportunity for the industry, communities and other interested parties to have their say and offer their solutions for the new regulatory framework.
Consultation on the new fees framework ended yesterday, while the submission period on the other new regulations closes on July 26.
The issues
Discussion documents cover proposed regulations relating to. -
• Local alcohol policies
• Licensee obligations
• A new licensing system, including the introduction of a new fees regime
• Defining grocery stores - to ensure the sale of food is the ''principal business'' of a grocery store
• Minimum standards for qualifications needed for obtaining a manager's certificate
• Fake IDs - addressing issues with how easy it is to obtain more than one 18+ card
• Infringement offences - widening them and setting new fees
• Alcohol control areas - giving police ability to issue ''on-the-spot'' infringement notices
• Remote sales
• Licensing and community trusts
