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ABTC officers can now suspend, revoke licenses
Officers of the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Control Division of the CNMI Department of Commerce have been given the authority to revoke or suspend licenses of businesses for violating regulations.
According to Commerce Secretary Mark Rabauliman, he made the designation of authority after a recent discussion of their operations with the division.
Through the designation, ABTC officers can “invoke their authority to revoke licenses” on two particular violations which are selling to a minor and selling after hours.
“There are a lot of infractions, there are a lot of things that can be cited, but what I made clear is that, if anything else, I want you to exercise the revocation right when these two, one or the other, is the violation,” Rabauliman said.
Suspension authority is also given to the officers.
“The other violations I’m empowering them to use their prudent judgment,” he added.
Some of these other violations are not asking for identification cards, not displaying licenses, and having outdated licenses.
Rabauliman said revocation of license may be up to a year while suspensions are effective for 48 hours.
Initially, the power to suspend or revoke rests on the secretary, but as he can designate it, he is now designating it to his officers.
Establishments will still have the right to appeal when their licenses are revoked or suspended.
“In any of those things, you do have the right as a licensed establishment to request for an administrative hearing,” Rabauliman said.
This comes after Commerce, along with partners in the Department of Public Safety and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.-Community Guidance Center, conducted joint operations on random establishments to check on compliance last month.
Ten were arrested for selling alcohol to minors, 12 establishments failed the alcohol compliance checks, while two were found to be non-compliant on tobacco control laws.
There are 452 licensed establishments to sell alcoholic beverages in the CNMI with ABTC having certified over 600 individuals who underwent the Responsible Alcohol and Tobacco Sales and Services Training Program.
