Trade leaders have attacked the final details of the government's mandatory code of practice, arguing it is "lop-sided" and "farcical".
The code includes measures to crackdown on "irresponsible" promotions, but also a condition that pubs must offer free tap water, check ID for anyone who looks under-18, and offer a 125ml measure of wine and 25ml spirit measure.
Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said pubs were being unfairly targeted.
"Pubs are at the heart of responsible retailing and are being demonised because this is easy, in terms of legislation," she said.
The group has "consistently supported legislation to crack down on irresponsible promotions in pubs and supermarkets", she said.
But Simmonds added: "With nearly 70 per cent of all alcohol now sold through supermarkets, the pub-centric measures announced today are lop-sided and unbalanced.
She also hit out at laws forcing pubs to stock smaller glass sizes.
"Pubs should be able to offer other measures, without the compulsory purchase of hundreds of thousands of new glasses," she said.
Under the code licensees could also face fines of up to £20,000 and six months in prison.
Mark Hastings, communications director at the BBPA, said: "To bang someone up for six months for inadvertently serving a 17 year-old is frankly ludicrous, particularly when violent thugs are getting away with cautions for assaulting licensees and bar-staff.
"Day-in day out licensees and bar staff are supporting police and local; communities working at the front line of enforcement. Treating hard working people like hardened criminals only brings the criminal justice system into disrepute."
Meanwhile, Paul Smith, executive director of late-night operator trade group Noctis, said a possible jail term for breaching parts of the code were "completely out of kilter" and "farcical".
"If we'd seen there was going to be jail terms we would have made a massive issue of that," he said.
Addressing the code's heavy bias against the on-trade, Smith added: "It's pretty disgusting really if you look at where the majority of alcohol is being sold, which is the off-trade."