The Florida Senate

561.411  Qualifications for distributors.--No distributor's license shall be issued to or held by any person or business which does not meet and maintain the following qualifications with respect to its warehouse inventory and sales.

(1)  The distributor must maintain warehouse space which is either owned or leased by the distributor, or dedicated to the distributor's use in a public warehouse, which is sufficient to store at one time:

(a)  An inventory of alcoholic beverages which is equal to at least 10 percent of the distributor's annual case sales to licensed vendors within this state or to licensed vendors within the malt beverage distributor's exclusive sales territory; or

(b)  An inventory for which the cost of acquisition is not less than $100,000.

(2)  The distributor must maintain at all times, in a warehouse which is either owned or leased by the distributor or in public warehouse space dedicated to the distributor's use, an inventory of alcoholic beverages:

(a)  Which consists of not less than 5 percent of the distributor's annual sales to licensed vendors within this state or within the malt beverage distributor's exclusive sales territory; or

(b)  For which the cost of acquisition is not less than $100,000. The inventory required herein shall be owned by the distributor, not held on consignment, and not acquired pursuant to a prior agreement to sell it to a specific licensee or licensees.

(c)  For purposes of calculating inventory or percentage of annual sales as required by paragraphs (a) and (b), the calculation shall not include private label inventory whose label is owned by a vendor.

(3)  The distributor must sell alcoholic beverages to licensed vendors generally rather than a selected few licensed vendors. For purposes of this section, a distributor shall be conclusively presumed to be selling to licensed vendors generally, if:

(a)  The distributor sells to at least 25 percent of the licensed vendors in the county wherein the distributor's warehouse is located or sells to at least 25 percent of the licensed vendors in the malt beverage distributor's exclusive sales territory; or

(b)  The distributor's total volume of sales to licensed vendors within the state or within the malt beverage distributor's exclusive sales territory during any ongoing 12-month period consists of at least 50 percent of individual sales which are in quantities of 10 cases or less.

History.--s. 6, ch. 96-419.