Editing Alko (section)

==Legal status==
[[File:Alko interior 20190202.jpg|thumb|A photo from inside the Alko in [[Lappajärvi]].]]
Alko is a government-owned enterprise reporting to the Finnish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. {{As of|2017|12}}, it has 368 stores and 143 order pick-up points throughout the country.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alko’s mission is: the most responsible way to sell alcohol in the world. |url=https://www.alko.fi/en/alko-inc/about-alko/alko-in-brief |access-date=2022-06-05 |website=Alko |language=en}}</ref> Alko shop locations have to be approved by [[National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Finland)|National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health]] (Finnish abbreviation ''Valvira''). Only once has an application for a new Alko shop been denied: in 2003, an application for a location in [[Koivukylä]], [[Vantaa]], was rebuffed because there was a kindergarten next to the planned location. Earlier shops were located separately from other retail outlets, but beginning in the 1990s a growing number of Alkos have appeared in malls and supermarkets, some even in gas stations. Under the Alcohol Act, Alkos cannot have a [[display window|window display]], so stores often have a display of [[wine glass]]es and catalogues.

Alko can advertise beverages that contain up to 22% alcohol. In practice, manufacturers or distributors, not Alko, advertise their products. There is a total ban on advertising beverages stronger than 22%.

On February 3, 2005, the Finnish Food Marketing Association (a pressure group of the country's supermarkets like [[K-Kauppa]] and [[S-Group]]) asked the European Union to challenge the legality of Alko's monopoly, which it disputes. 

Products under 22% [[Alcohol by volume|ABV]] can be purchased by individuals at least 18 years of age. The minimum age for products containing over 22% ABV is 20. When asked at checkout a customer must prove their age with an official ID (only a driver's licence, ID card or passport is accepted). Alcohol will not be sold to visibly intoxicated customers or when there is a reason to suspect misuse or illegal supply to a person who would not be authorized to buy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vapaatila.net/alko/myynninvalvonta/en/ |title=Ground rules for purchases |publisher=Vapaatila.net |date= |accessdate=2012-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615101647/http://vapaatila.net/alko/myynninvalvonta/en/ |archive-date=2013-06-15 |url-status = dead|df= }}</ref>