Serving alcohol in Iceland: age checks, the advertising ban and licensed hours

Most of what a bar or restaurant does with alcohol is ordinary hospitality: a good wine list, a cold beer, a guest who gets home safely. The rules around that work come from the alcohol act, the restaurant act, one regulation and, in Reykjavík, the city’s own rules on hours. This guide sets them out with the law text, as they stood in October 2026.

Which licence class you are in

The restaurant act puts every restaurant into one of three classes.² Class I serves no alcohol. Class II serves alcohol on a small scale and is not likely to disturb the neighbours, for example with loud music. Class III serves alcohol on a larger scale, for example with loud music, or needs more supervision or policing.²

Classes II and III need an operating licence (rekstrarleyfi) from the sýslumaður. Our guide Opening a restaurant in Iceland goes through the application step by step.

Age: 20 for alcohol, 18 after 22:00

The alcohol act says this about age:

“Óheimilt er að selja, veita eða afhenda áfengi þeim sem er yngri en 20 ára.”¹

In English: it is not allowed to sell, serve or hand over alcohol to anyone under 20. The same article says that whenever there is reason to think a guest is under 20, the person who serves must have the guest prove their age with photo ID or in another adequate way.¹

A second age rule applies to the room itself. At a restaurant licensed for alcohol, guests under 18 may not stay after 22:00 and until closing, unless they are with a parent, another guardian, a relative or a spouse who is 18 or older.² Door staff, waiters and others who run the place must ask young guests without such company to prove their age, when there is reason to think they are under 18.² A breach of this rule is punished with fines, and the police can close the premises.²

In practice, most bars make the ID check a habit at the door or at the bar, so that no one has to judge it alone at a busy moment.

Guests who are clearly drunk

The alcohol act gives you the right to refuse:

“Heimilt er að neita að veita eða afhenda manni áfengi ef viðkomandi er áberandi ölvaður.”¹

That is, you may refuse to serve a person who is clearly drunk. The wording gives a right to refuse. We found no sentence in the act that states a duty to refuse. The regulation adds that door staff watch the age of guests and the handling of alcohol, and that they may remove guests who break the rules or cause a disturbance.³

Door staff

Door staff must be approved by the police. Each one must be at least 20 years old and have no conviction for violence or drug offences in the last five years.³ A class III nightclub, function hall or pub normally has at least two door staff, and the police can ask for more.³

The advertising ban

Article 20 of the alcohol act starts like this:

“Hvers konar auglýsingar á áfengi og einstökum áfengistegundum eru bannaðar.”¹

All advertising of alcohol and of single types of alcohol is banned. The same article also bans showing alcohol being drunk or handled in ads or information about other goods or services.¹ So the ban can reach a restaurant’s ad for its food, when the picture shows the wine.

The law defines an advertisement widely. It is any notice to the public for marketing that shows, in words or pictures, types of alcohol or things connected with drinking. The law names examples such as product names or marks, imitations of alcohol products, posters, displays, printed matter and samples.¹ The definition does not name a channel, so it is not limited to newspapers or billboards.

The act lists three exceptions. The one that matters for a restaurant allows a producer’s name or logo on the ordinary equipment for serving alcohol at a licensed restaurant.¹ Separately, the media act bans commercial communications for alcohol in the media that it covers.⁷

Happy hour posts

The law does not use the words “happy hour”. We found no published court ruling on a happy-hour post, so this is not settled case law. A public post, sign or ad that names a drink offer is a notice to the public that shows alcohol, which matches the definition in article 20.¹ Treat it as high risk under the act, and ask a lawyer before you publish anything you are unsure of.

Who enforces the ban

The police and the courts enforce article 20. Neytendastofa, the consumer agency, does not. When the minister answered a question in Alþingi in 2015, the sýslumenn confirmed that complaints go to the police.⁵ Breaches of the alcohol act are punished with fines or prison of up to six years.¹

The Supreme Court tested the ban in case 415/1998, judged on 25 February 1999. The case was about a beer ad on a billboard, in a newspaper and on the radio. The court held that the ban does not breach the freedom of expression in article 73 of the constitution or article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.⁶

The latest official count we found is from that 2015 answer. It lists the reported cases under article 20 for each year from 2005 to 2014.⁵

Cases reported to the police under the alcohol advertising ban, 2005–2014

Show the data

Year	Cases
2005	35
2006	49
2007	10
2008	15
2009	29
2010	38
2011	7
2012	5
2013	7
2014	5

Most of the cases were in the capital area.⁵ In the six years before the answer, the state prosecutor issued two indictments. Both ended in a conviction, with fines of 150.000 kr. and 400.000 kr.⁵

Serving hours in Reykjavík

Your licence states your hours. In Reykjavík, the city’s rules from February 2026 set the latest time it can allow for each area.⁴ Other municipalities have their own rules.

The same rules add some details:⁴

• The city can set shorter hours, for example when a place is surrounded by housing. Some parts of the city centre and the district centres (M11 to M16) also have shorter hours.
• The nights before 27 December and before 2 January count as weekend nights, with 03:00 as the latest time.
• A class I restaurant, which serves no alcohol, may stay open around the clock, within other laws and planning terms.
• Alcohol outside is normally allowed until 22:00 at the latest. Our guide Terraces in Reykjavík covers outdoor serving.

Closing and clearing the room

When the licensed time for alcohol ends, the place closes. All guests must have left within one hour of closing. The city says that this hour is only for guests to leave in a normal way. It is not extra opening time and not time for more service.⁴ The national regulation sets the same one-hour limit.³ A licensed place may not open again in the morning until at least two hours after its alcohol service ended.⁴

The police supervise the hours. They can stop a business at once, without warning, when it goes beyond the terms of its licence, such as the licensed hours.²

A worked example: a Friday night in the city centre

Siggi runs a bar in the miðborg. His licence allows the city’s maximum for his area, which is 03:00 on the night before a Saturday.

1. From 22:00, the door staff ask guests who look under 18 for ID, unless they are with an adult relative or guardian. The bar staff ask for ID from anyone who may be under 20.
2. At 02:45, the staff call last orders.
3. At 03:00, the bar stops serving and closes.
4. By 04:00, all guests have left. The staff use this hour to clear the room, not to serve.
5. The bar does not open again before 05:00.

If Siggi has a terrace, his licence states the hours for it, and they end much earlier.

What may change

Two private members’ bills on alcohol were put before Alþingi in the session that began in autumn 2026. One would remove the advertising ban in article 20.⁸ The other would lower the age in article 18 from 20 to 18, and change other age limits, such as the minimum age for door staff.⁹ As of October 2026, neither is law. A bill can change or stop before a vote, so check its status before you plan around it.

Another change is already law. From 1 January 2027, the parts of the restaurant act that name the municipal health committees will name Umhverfis- og orkustofnun and Stofnun atvinnuveganna instead.¹⁰ This changes who gives some of the opinions on your licence. The age limits, the advertising ban and the hours stay the same.

Before you change your hours or publish a drinks offer

• Read your own licence. It states your class, your hours and your outdoor hours.
• Check the city’s maximum for your area. Your licence can be stricter.
• Plan the night so that the room is empty one hour after the last serve.
• Brief new staff on the two age limits: 20 for alcohol, and 18 after 22:00.
• Ask a lawyer before you publish a post, sign or picture that shows a drink or a drinks offer.