Effectiveness of Responsible Beverage Service: The Norwegian Experiences

Abstract

This article summarizes the findings from three evaluation studies of the Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) program in Norway. Effect evaluations in these studies demonstrated no effectiveness in that the program failed to reach its objectives of reducing on-premise sales to intoxicated and to underaged patrons. Process evaluations found that the content of the Norwegian RBS program was limited and represented a “light” version and program implementation varied significantly. In one project the program was hardly implemented, in another project program participation was made a prerequisite for extended opening hours, whereby the coverage of the target group became very high. A significant challenge in this area would be to improve program content and ways of implementation.