Poland's government will toughen a ban on alcohol sales to those under 18 years old

WARSAW, Poland — Poland's government is introducing regulations that will toughen the ban on alcohol sale to those under 18 years old and prohibit the sale of alcohol at filling stations at night, the health minister said Thursday.

The regulations are in response to growing number of reports of road and other accidents involving people under the influence of alcohol.

Sale of alcohol to people under 18 is illegal in Poland and can lead to stiff fines or a month in detention. Vendors are currently authorized but not obliged to check the buyer's documents for their age. The new regulations will oblige them to do that.

''The sellers will have to be more attentive and responsible in their role,'' Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna said on private Radio Zet.

The measures will also ban the sale of alcohol between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at filling stations, where it is available now round the clock, Leszczyna said.

A deputy health minister resigned this week for failing to ban a range of colorful, squeezable alcohol-filled pouches that resemble children's snacks from supermarket shelves. The producer has apologized and said the product will be discontinued.

The work on the new regulations was almost complete and will be expedited, Leszczyna said.

Poland is a producer of various kinds of vodka and beer and tax from alcohol sales bring some 13 billion of zlotys ($3.3 billion) into the state coffers. But experts say that losses incurred by premature deaths, absenteeism and accidents are much higher.

The European Union nation of some 38 million people has an average annual alcohol consumption of some 9.5 liters (20 pints) per person, among the highest in Europe.