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Packaged liquor licence

Sell packaged alcohol in a physical store or online.

On this page

Key features

Trading hours

This licence allows you to trade:

You can apply to trade outside these hours, but permission is only granted in exceptional circumstances. Contact us for details.

Apply at least 11 weeks before you need a licence. Your application may take longer if we need more information or if there are objections.

Who this licence suits

This licence suits:

Application fees

You need to pay a non-refundable application fee when you apply.

If your floor space is:

Read about liquor licence annual renewal fees.

Before you apply

Complete these steps before you start your application.

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  1. 1Check if you are exempt

Some business types do not need a liquor licence if they meet strict requirements.

These include:

You must meet every requirement to get the exemption.

  1. 2Check council requirements

Contact the relevant local council about their planning requirements.

You do not need a planning permit for your liquor licence, but you may need planning approval for other reasons.

  1. 3Do a community impact assessment, if needed

If your floor space is more than 750 square metres, you need to do a community impact assessment.

You must do this before you apply.

Floor space includes areas of your business that customers can access, not including offices and storage areas.

Use the community impact assessment form.

Community impact assessment for a large packaged liquor outlet PDF 555.75 KB (opens in a new window)

  1. 4Complete or book training

Before you apply, as the applicant you must complete or be enrolled in new entrant training and Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training.

Before you start trading, any staff who serve alcohol must have a valid RSA certificate.

Read about RSA training and find a list of approved training providers.

  1. 5Check who can apply

Only an authorised person can apply for the licence. This depends on who is applying.

If you are applying as:

  1. 6Get your information ready

Have these details and documents ready:

You no longer need to upload a council planning permit with your application. Instead, upload the LCV new licence or permit planning document when the form asks for a planning permit. This is a temporary step until we update the form. You can upload a planning permit instead, if you have one.

LCV new licence or permit planning document PDF 112.91 KB (opens in a new window)

Apply now

Complete the application form on the Service Victoria website.

It takes about 40 minutes to complete.

Get help with unfamiliar words and details in the application form.

Apply now

After you apply

Service Victoria will email to acknowledge your application, including a receipt for your application fee.

Liquor Control Victoria will then review your application and email if we need more information. This may take a few weeks.

We send your application to Victoria Police and the relevant local council. This gives both a chance to object to your licence if they have concerns.

Victoria Police may contact you about your application.

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We will email you if:

If you do not, we may refuse your application – you will lose your application fee.

We’ll email you with instructions on when and how to submit your newspaper advert.

The advert lets the community know about your application and gives them a chance to have their say.

You must advertise:

Guidelines for advertising packaged liquor licence applications PDF 63.67 KB (opens in a new window)

We’ll email you instructions on when and how to display your public notice for 28 days.

The notice lets the community know about your application and gives them a chance to have their say.

How to display your notice

When displaying the notice at your venue, you must:

Public notice PDF 303.56 KB (opens in a new window)

(opens in a new window)

Submit your Statement of Display

After 28 days have passed, you must declare that you displayed the notice correctly and that the display period is now over.

To do this:

  1. Complete this form:

Statement of display PDF 114.06 KB (opens in a new window)

  1. Email the form to contact@liquor.vic.gov.au.

After your public notice goes up, the community has 30 days to object to your application.

They must explain how the licence could negatively affect the area’s amenity – for example, noise or disruption to their quiet enjoyment of living there.

If we receive any valid objections, we’ll contact you to respond.

For example, if someone raises a concern about noise, you could explain how you plan to manage it.

We’ll take this into account when we assess your application.

When you get your decision

It can take about 9 to 11 weeks to get your decision.

It may take longer if someone objected to your licence or we needed to ask for more information.

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We email to advise that we are granting your licence.

The email tells you how to sign up to our Liquor Portal.

It’s important that you register. It’s where you can:

Stay compliant

Be aware of your obligations under the law and as a licensee.

There are serious penalties if you do not comply.

Find out how to stay compliant.

We will email to advise that we are refusing the licence, including reasons for our decision.

You can appeal the:

When to appeal

You must appeal within 28 days of receiving the licence decision.

How to appeal

  1. Complete the internal review application form. It has details on the reasons for appeals we can accept.

Internal review application PDF 1.53 MB (opens in a new window)

  1. Send the form to us either by:
  1. We will email you with next steps. This may take a few weeks.

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