Which course do I need to complete?
Licensee courses for hotel, restaurant, nightclub, caterer and motel licensees
The Liquor Act 1982 requires applicants for the above licences to complete a Liquor Administration Board (Board) approved licensees' course.
These courses provide potential liquor licence holders with an understanding of their trading entitlements, the scope of the New South Wales liquor laws, and the disciplinary provisions for non compliance.
All licensees' courses contain a Board approved Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) module, as well as a liquor law module.
In addition, the Hotel Licensees' course, conducted by TAFE (NSW), contains the Board approved Responsible Conduct of Gambling (RCG) course.
Responsible service of alcohol (RSA) course
The NSW liquor laws require a Board approved RSA course to be completed by:
- all liquor licensees and club secretaries
- all people involved in the retail sale, supply or service of liquor in licensed venues. This includes promotional staff, club directors, and volunteers serving liquor under a function licence, and
- security officers working at licensed venues.
The training requirements do not apply to employees of wholesale, brewer and some vigneron licences.
RSA certificates currently have no expiry date and there is no statutory requirement to undertake refresher training in RSA. However, you must ensure you have completed a course from a Board approved provider.
A list of approved course providers is available from here.
How to become an approved RSA course provider
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Note: As of 1 January 2008, the Liquor Administration Board has placed a temporary freeze on all new RSA course approvals due to the recent approval of the new Liquor Act. No new course applications will be accepted from this date. Further information will be provided on this page as it becomes available. |
Currently there is no standard RSA course. Registered training organisations must develop their own course material to meet the Liquor Administration Board's requirements. The Board's requirements are based on five learning outcomes. Further information is available from the information sheet Responsible service of alcohol (RSA) training - Obtaining approval from the Liquor Administration Board.
To assist in developing this material, our office has developed, by using existing resources such as the Liquor & Gaming bulletin, resources that address much of the Board's requirements for learning outcomes 1, 2 and 4. While this material can be used as a starting point for developing a course, the material does not include assessment tasks or case studies that also need to be included.
We do not plan to develop material for learning outcomes 3 and 5, although guides are provided by our office to help address these requirements.
While your course will still require approval by the Board, it is expected that this material, if used, would significantly reduce the time taken to evaluate it. You should however note that use of this material does not guarantee Board approval.Our office's course material is available for downloading.
For people who do not use our material, we also have a set of checklists to assist you in developing your course.
If you wish to use our office's published material (ie signage or extracts from the Liquor & Gaming bulletins), you must seek copyright approval.
Further information about copyright approval can be obtained from our Communications branch - telephone 9995 0417 or email info@olgr.nsw.gov.au.
How to become an approved RSA trainer
The NSW liquor laws and the RSA course cover many important harm minimisation measures. Under the mandatory training framework, RSA trainers require certain qualifications and experience.
Trainers must possess a:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, and
- minimum of five years supervisory or management experience (dealing with liquor) in a NSW hotel, registered club, or equivalent.
If a trainer has the necessary qualifications, an approved course provider may make an application to the Board for the trainer to deliver the course on its behalf.
Contact details for approved registered training organisations are available from this here.