Auction website does not violate the Dutch Licensing and Catering Act

It’s a well-known fact that for a vast range of products, consumers nowadays like to shop online. This applies to alcoholic beverages as well. Reason enough for the Vereniging SlijtersUnie (a Dutch association which serves the interests of liquor stores) to research whether the online-sellers of alcohol have the required licenses to do so. Catawiki is an auction website that offers liquor through an auction system without owning any kind of license to sell alcohol. The SlijtersUnie states that therefore, they are infringing the Dutch Licensing and Catering Act. They started proceedings against the municipality of Assen because they are the enforcement authority that are, in their opinion, responsible for taking action against Catawiki.  However, Catawiki says to be nothing but the facilitator of a platform, which offers individual sellers the opportunity to sell liquor to consumers. According to them, they can’t be held to obtain a license since Catawiki is just an intermediary. The administrative court agrees with Catawiki.

It follows from the Dutch Licensing and Catering Act (which derives from a time without internet) that it is prohibited to ‘provide the opportunity to place an order for liquor and to deliver liquor after an order has been placed’ without a license. What are the conditions for there to be an ‘order’ in the online environment?

The court decided that the auctionwebsite does not itself provide consumers the opportunity to order, but that it lets individual private sellers do so by letting them use their website. The website indeed merely serves as a platform where sellers can offer liquor through an online auction. The seller himself decides what he offers and in which form, for what price and under which conditions. The purchase agreement is thus concluded by the seller and the person who placed the bid and it is the seller who delivers the order after payment has taken place. Placing a bid on liquor via the website does not directly lead to purchase and delivery, which makes that the auction website does not facilitate ‘ordering’. In short: the auctionwebsite may proceed with her activities without the license. This case gives us some more inside on how to deal with the Dutch Licensing and Catering Act in the internet era we live in today.  

Dominique Geerts