Wine Law

Legal Protection of the Consumer of Alcoholic Beverages Felio José Bauzá Martorell 1 I. The Consumption of Alcohol: Between Freedom and Administrative Intervention; II. Limitations on the Freedom of Consumption of Alcohol; II.1. Principle of competition and sectoral norms; II.2. Sector limitations; III. Consumer Protection; III.1. Consumer of food products; III.2. Indication of the alcoholic degree; III.3. Labelling and presentation; IV. Conclusions; Bibliography. I. The Consumption of Alcohol: Between Freedom and Administrative Intervention In times of public health protection, issues related to the consumption of alcoholic beverages transcend the strictly personal sphere of the consumer to affect the entire community. In effect, Spain is defined from the dogmatic part of the Spanish Constitution (SC) as a social and democratic State of Law, which advocates freedom, equality, justice and political pluralism as superior values of the legal system (Art. 1.1 SC) 2 . In this sense, “freedom” includes the individual option to consume alcohol; nevertheless, individual rights are neither absolute nor unlimited, and they find their limits in the rights of others. Hence, as a consequence, the legitimate right of an individual to consume alcohol must be confronted with the protection of health. Not in vain, Article 43 SC, in a 1 Senior Lecturer of Administrative Law at the University of the Balearic Islands and President of the Spanish Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism. 2 For a general consideration on the formula of the social and democratic State of Law, see ARAGÓN REYES, M. Artículo 1. In CASAS BAAMONDE, M. E. & RODRÍGUEZ-PIÑEIRO Y BRAVO-FERRER, M. (Dirs.) Comentarios a la Constitución Española. XXX Aniversario . Wolters Kluwer. Madrid, 2008, pp. 25-52.