Occasional Liquor Licence information and lodgement guide.
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The Liquor Control Act 1988 defines a sale as:
It is an offence to sell liquor without a relevant licence issued under the Act. A conviction for selling liquor without a licence carries a penalty of up to $20,000 per offence.
Section 35 of the Act provides for the entity types who may apply for an occasional licence. An application can be made by-
Natural Person: A natural/individual person may apply for the application if they intend to be solely responsible for the licence including purchasing the liquor themselves and retaining the proceeds. If you are the approved manager, volunteer or an employee assisting with the application, please refer to the other entity types below as the application must be made in the name of the entity who is ultimately in control and will retain the proceeds from the sale and supply of liquor.
For example, you are an approved manager at a local football club who is responsible for organising a fundraising event on behalf of the club. All proceeds from the sale and supply of liquor are retained by the club. In this case the club would be the correct applicant entity.
Partnership: Where two or more entities are responsible for the conduct of the licence and intend to share proceeds from the sale and supply of liquor. Please note, all parties under this category will be jointly and severally liable in respect of any civil or criminal liability that attaches to the licensee.
Body Corporate: A legal entity such as an association, company, government agency, or institution identified by a particular name.
Unincorporated Body: A group or committee of like-minded individuals who are not registered as a legal entity but are instead represented by an individual person. You will be required to nominate a natural person as a trustee to hold the licence on its behalf
There will be seven event categories to select from when completing the application. It is important to select the category which aligns with your event. This will ensure the relevant information is requested.
The time frame required for the licensing authority to process the application before the commencement of the event depends on the number of patrons anticipated to attend.
If your application is lodged outside of these times you will not be able to proceed without contacting the licensing authority. See exemptions for late applications below.
The purpose of an occasional liquor licence is to allow the applicant to sell and supply liquor at a genuine one-off event that cannot be covered under a permanent liquor licence. The sale of liquor must be ancillary to the purpose of the event. Occasional liquor licences cannot be used to operate a business in place of a permanent licence.
An occasional liquor licence authorises the licensee to sell or supply, or allow the consumption of liquor: a) at such times, and on such occasion, or during such period not exceeding three weeks, as may be specified; b) at such places, and within such designated area as may be specified; and c) subject to terms or conditions as may be specified.
Occasional liquor licence applications must be lodged online via the department’s portal. If you require assistance with the lodgement of your application you can either contact the department on 61 6551 4999 or attend the department’s office and seek assistance from the front counter reception staff. For events being held in regional areas, occasional liquor applications for fewer than 500 persons can be lodged on paper through the local courthouse.
For small occasional events please review the Exemptions to the Liquor Control Act 1988 policy as there are certain instances where the sale or supply of liquor is exempt from the Liquor Control Act 1988 (the Act).
If an application is deemed late you may not be able to proceed with the online form and you must contact our E-Business section on 61 8 6551 4999 to seek the department’s approval to accept the application. Please have your client reference number and/or username available so that the e-business officers can locate your application. Please note, late applications will generally only be considered if the Department has the ability to assess the application within the afforded timeframe. In addition, providing you with an exemption code does not guarantee a late application will be assessed and determined in time for the event.
Trading beyond 12 midnight on Mondays to Saturdays or 10pm on Sundays will generally not be approved unless there are special circumstances. You may be asked to provide further submissions if you indicate that your event will go beyond these hours.
Will there be another entity obtaining proceeds from the event, such as entry tickets or a percentage of the proceeds from liquor? If yes, please ensure that profit sharing is declared in the application including a description of the profit sharing arrangement and contact details of Profit sharer is required. If another person/entity is receiving proceeds from the sale of liquor, it is important to establish who will be responsible for the licence when choosing the correct entity type.
If the proposed licensed area is outdoors or partly outdoors, a map of the defined licensed area is required to accompany the application. A hand drawn floor plan or existing building plan will suffice including an additional screen shot from google maps or Landgate to illustrate the location. The map must include any nearby buildings or rooms you wish to use, nearby roads and other identifying features, and the location of bar areas within the desired licensed area. Please make sure to highlight the boundary of the licensed area where liquor will be sold, supplied and consumed.
The acceptable formats for uploading maps are:
Figure 1 Example of proposed licensed area
Depending on the nature of an event, the holder of a permanent liquor licence may be authorised, under an occasional licence, to attend an event to exhibit their own produce. Generally, these type of applications are lodged by the event organiser. The type of permanent liquor licence held by an exhibitor will be taken into consideration when assessing the application and as a general principle, an exhibitor will not be permitted to trade in a manner contrary to their existing licence. Should exhibitors wish to trade in a manner not authorised under their permanent licence, a submission should be lodged demonstrating why the application is in the public interest.
A spreadsheet will be required which should contain a full list of all participating licensed premises/licensees including the liquor licence number and proposed manner of sale and supply i.e. tastings, by the glass, packaged liquor. Please see below for example of approved exhibitor list template.
The purpose of crowd controllers at occasional licensed events is to manage the number of people within the licensed area as well as usual crowd control requirements. High risk events such as concerts benefit from good crowd controllers as they can make the difference between a well managed event and possible disaster.
The term ‘crowd controllers’ refers exclusively to licensed crowd controllers only. Bar staff or local volunteers offering to manage crowds is not acceptable as crowd controllers under the Security and Related Control Act.
If deemed necessary you may be requested to hire crowd controllers if your event is considered high risk despite the number of patrons.
In this regard, the crowd control requirements will be determined on the merits of the application and the level of risk to the community the premises/events may present. Consideration of such applications and the crowd controller requirements will be subject to the initiatives the applicant proposes to implement to minimise risk.
Crowd controller requirements will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the nature of the licensed premises/event and the initiatives proposed by the applicant to mitigate risk. The licensing authority may determine that the security requirements can be met through the use of a combination of: licensed crowd controllers, licensed security officers, approved managers or responsible service of alcohol marshals. However, a minimum number of crowd controllers determined by the licensing authority may be required.
An approved manager is an authorised person who has been pre-approved by the department to manage licensed venues across Western Australia. It is a requirement under the Act that every occasional licence is supervised by the holder of a restricted or unrestricted manager approval at all times.
The approved manager is not required to be a member of the organisation or company and any person who carries the approved manager ID card may be hired or engaged to manage the sale and supply of liquor at your proposed event. If you are interested in applying for the approved manager ID card please refer to the Approved manager lodgement guide on our website.
Applications sought in regional areas for a period of up to seven days and where no more than 500 patrons are expected to attend on any one day can be lodged manually through the local court house.
This factsheet summarises the exemptions which are set out in the Liquor Control Regulations 1989 (the LC Regs).1
A primary object of the Liquor Control Act 1988 (the LC Act) is to minimise harm caused by alcohol. The LC Act does this by regulating the sale, supply and consumption of alcohol. Selling alcohol is defined very broadly and includes:
The LC Act regulates the premises where alcohol is sold, and the services and facilities which can be provided with alcohol. However, there are some circumstances where the provisions of the LC Act do not apply.3
The exemptions provided for in the LC Regs are for relatively controlled circumstances where it is expected that only small amounts of alcohol will be consumed, usually in a social setting where relatively few people are in attendance. The following exemptions only apply when all the conditions set out in the LC Regs are met:
Alcohol cannot be sold or supplied at a live entertainment venue without a liquor licence, however the consumption of BYO alcohol will be allowed if all the requirements of the ‘live entertainment venue’ exemption are met.4 The main purpose of the event must be the provision of live entertainment at the premises, with any consumption of alcohol only ancillary to this purpose.
The live entertainment must be musical, theatrical, comical, or dance, provided by one or more persons who are present at the venue.5 It must be continuous, though reasonable breaks are allowed, such as intervals or breaks between acts. Any person consuming alcohol must be at least 18 years old.
Live entertainment does not include:
The person in charge of the premises must notify the Director of Liquor Licensing (DLL) that the exemption is going to be relied on to allow the consumption of alcohol on the premises. The Notice of intention to allow consumption of liquor at a live entertainment venue form is available to download. The completed form must be received at least 14 days before the person intends to rely on the exemption.
The person in charge of the premises, and any person providing services on the premises, must not have had a liquor licence suspended, been disqualified from holding a liquor licence, been the subject of a prohibition order or found not to be a fit and proper person.6
The following criteria must always apply at the premises, for the exemption to apply:
It is an offence for any person to sell or supply alcohol to, or allow the consumption of alcohol by a:
Alcohol can be sold or supplied to attendees of a small function, without the organiser holding a liquor licence, if all the following criteria are met.9
A function is a gathering, occasion or event where alcohol will be sold or supplied, and can include a sporting contest, show, exhibition, fair, or reception.10 Alcohol can only be consumed at the function, and not packaged for consumption elsewhere. This sense of function denotes a special event or occasion and does not apply to ‘business as usual’ activities such the ongoing sale of alcohol at a licensed premises. The exemption only applies if the service of alcohol is not the primary purpose of the function, so anyone proposing to supply alcohol as a business model cannot rely on the small functions exemption and must apply for a liquor licence.
At the function, alcohol can be served:
It is not permitted to serve alcohol to drunk people or allow drunk people to consume alcohol at the function. It is an offence for any person to sell or supply alcohol to, or allow the consumption of alcohol by a:
A business can provide free alcohol to a customer without a liquor licence if the following criteria are met.13 The alcohol is to be provided:
Examples of businesses making use of this exemption would include a hair salon offering a complimentary glass of wine or champagne to a client, or a real estate agent offering a complimentary bottle of champagne to a home buyer.
A tourism business does not need a liquor licence to supply alcohol to a customer, if all the following criteria are met:15
The alcohol must not be supplied:
A liquor licence is not required to sell or supply alcohol from a stall at a farmers’ market if all the exemption criteria are met.18 A farmers’ market is a market or fair where primary producers 19 display and sell direct to the public. The stall must be provided by one or more alcohol producers, or an alcohol producers’ association, and sell the alcohol produced by these parties.
If it is being consumed at the farmers’ market the alcohol can only be provided as a free sample.20 If it is being consumed away from the farmers’ market it must be:
Alcohol must not be supplied to a person under the age of 18, or to a drunk person, and drunk people must not consume the alcohol near the stall.
It is an offence for any person to sell or supply alcohol, or allow the consumption of alcohol by a:
A liquor licence is not necessary for alcohol to be provided at a bed and breakfast, if the exemption criteria are met.22
A bed and breakfast operator can supply free alcohol to an adult staying at their facility. It must be consumed on the premises and not be more than 1.5 litres of alcohol, for the duration of that person’s stay. No more than 8 persons can stay at the facility at any one time.
The bed and breakfast operator must purchase the alcohol from someone who holds a licence authorising them to sell packaged liquor, or who has a club or wholesaler’s licence.
If they meet the relevant criteria, a bed and breakfast operator could consider relying on the tourism operator’s exemption, instead.
The organiser of a function at a licensed premises does not need a liquor licence if all the exemption criteria are met.23
The organiser must enter into a profit sharing arrangement with the holder of a liquor licence, which is approved by the Director of Liquor Licensing (the DLL).24 The DLL will not approve a profit sharing arrangement unless the relevant liquor licence permits the sale and supply of liquor to the public for consumption on the premises. The licences for liquor stores, wholesalers and clubs do not allow the general public to consume alcohol on the premises, so these venues cannot use this exemption.
The profit sharing arrangement is to set out that at the function the licensee will provide the venue, food and alcohol, at a fixed price to the organiser and the organiser is to arrange the advertising and ticket sales.
The ticket price includes admission and the provision of alcohol, food and entertainment during the function. All advertising for the function is to include a reference to the terms of the licence under which the supply of alcohol is authorised. Alcohol can only be provided to people who are at least 18 years old.
A liquor licence is not needed to provide alcohol to adult passengers in a charter vehicle if the conditions of this exemption are met.25 When the passengers are consuming alcohol the vehicle must be subject to an on-demand charter vehicle authorisation under the Transport (Road Passenger Services) Act 2018, and be equipped to carry no more than 14 adult passengers, excluding the driver. The hire must be for at least one continuous hour and arranged before the trip started.
Any juveniles must be accompanied by, and under the supervision of, a responsible adult. The driver of the vehicle must not allow a drunk person to consume liquor in the vehicle.
This exemption does not apply if the vehicle is being hired to take school students to or from school functions, such as a school ball.
A liquor licence is not necessary when a person who is the proprietor of licensed warehouse27 sells liquor in bond to a person who proposes to personally take it outside of Australia.
The sale and supply of alcohol is exempt when it occurs:
An exemption applies to the sale or supply of alcohol, which is delivered with flowers, food or other products, if the gift is delivered between 7am and 7pm and packaged as a gift. The business of the supplier must be genuinely marketed as a service for the sale and delivery of gifts. The person receiving the gift must be an adult, and not the vendor, supplier or purchaser of the gift.
The alcohol supplied must:
This exemption does not apply in a restricted area, or to liquor restricted premises.
The sale or supply of alcohol as a prize in a lottery conducted in accordance with the Gaming and Wagering Commission Act 1987 is exempt from the LC Act.
Alcohol based food essence is defined as liquor for the purposes of the LC Act33 but a person may sell it if they have the written authorisation of the DLL.34
Alcohol based food essence is defined as a liquid flavouring that exceeds 1.15% ethanol in a container holding:
In a health care setting or retirement village, certain people may sell or supply alcohol to patients or residents without the LC Act applying,35 as set out in the following table:
A liquor competition39 is a competition where:
At the competition, alcohol may be sold or supplied to a person who is at least 18 years of age and is not drunk, if they are one of the following:
If all these criteria are met, the competition is exempt from the LC Act.
Further information on licence requirements is available, or contact 61 8 6551 4888.
The factsheet on this subject is general information and is not professional advice or a legal opinion. The information is provided on the understanding that any person reading it must take responsibility for assessing its relevance and accuracy.
With respect to an Occasional Liquor Licence application sought for a function or event that takes place over a number of dates, the fee will be calculated based upon the total maximum number of persons expected to be present in the licensed area at any one time over the period. For example: if a function or event runs for 2 days and the maximum number of persons expected to be present in the licensed area at any one time is 300, then the fee will be calculated on an attendance of 600 people in total and will be $253.
In addition to the application fee, new applicants in respect of profit sharing agreements or arrangements will pay an additional $166 fee for each individual who is party to the agreement or arrangement and in relation to whom a background check is sought from the WA Police Service.
Please have the following information available for when you commence lodgement of the occasional application form.
Please refer to the following steps to lodge your application:
First you must create an account. This account will be used to submit your applications, returns and change your address details.
Once your details have been entered and registered, you will not be required to register your details again. You can amend your details at anytime by logging into your account.
If you experience any issues with the account creation process please contact our department on 61 8 6551 4999.
Now that you are set up with an account you can start the application. Whenever you start an application for the first time in a new account it will automatically divert you to an Applicant Details form. This must be completed prior to starting any application types and once created cannot be changed. If you are using an existing account, you will be given an option to skip this form if your contact information has not changed.
The application form works the same way as the Liquor Licence Applicant Details form, just with different questions. Read through each question carefully and remember to save your form often.
This form is designed to be intuitive, when you answer a question it will change the form to allow you to provide more information. Please be sure to give the pages a few moments to update when you select an option in case it needs to create more fields for you to fill out.
If you do not have the information required at hand you can save your form and return to it later via the My Account page. Clicking on Save will create a link on the My Account page under Saved Forms. You can click on Resume to proceed or Delete to remove the saved form.
Upon submission of the form click on the Pay Fee button to view the payment options and make payment.
Payment for online lodgement can be made online via BPOINT. To pay via any other method, including BPay, please click the View Quote button. This will generate a quote with payment details and your unique application number.
Please make sure to quote the Application Reference Number when submitting any enquiries or manual documents in relation to this application.
When the fee is paid the date of lodgement will be the date the payment is receipted by the licensing authority. It generally takes 1-2 business days for the fee to register on our system. Please be aware that we will be unable to issue you with an official receipt until the fee has fully registered. When you make payment online you will instead be offered a payment confirmation slip which you can retain as evidence of payment if required.
For a full list of the fees and charges please refer to the fees and charges page.
Once your application is submitted successfully, if further information is required, a Customer Service Officer will contact you, otherwise you will be advised of the outcome of your application via email in due course.