Wine Law

15 as advertising in the scope of Loi Evin 51 , and the team was sentenced to withdraw the products under a penalty of 1,000 € per day 52 . The beer 86’s package promoting a game for which the prize was a trip to Amsterdam was also considered as illegal advertising 53 . The sentence “discover the true face of Amsterdam” was deemed as an incentive for the consumer to drink by associating beer to a game, as well as with luck, travelling and discovery. Along with a small fine, they were sentenced to withdraw the product under a penalty of 1,000 € per day, which amounted to a colossal loss, combining the campaign, the dry matters and the logistic cost of the withdrawal. So, a good advice would be to be careful not to reproduce on the wine bottles images or mentions that might be contrary to Loi Evin. In case of doubt, removable bottle neck hangers and collars or flyers could be a good option for the promotional operations. 3.3.2. Covering foils for renovated buildings is not a media allowed A recent Heineken case illustrates the strict interpretation of the law by the judges. In this case, the advertisement was not on the billboard itself but on the covering foil of the facades of renovated buildings. It was held that the media allowed by the law were to be strictly interpreted and that foils could not be regarded as billboards. Therefore, the media was illegal for an alcoholic beverage 54 . 3.4. Some Disappointed Hope for the Contents Allowed As far as the content is concerned, Court disagreements can be pointed out, with the Court of Appeal of Paris showing some signs of flexibility. Although some kind of permission can be perceived on visuals, the judges tend to only strictly control the slogans. 51 TGI Paris, 20 April 2017, no. 17/52863. 52 According to article L.3351-7 of the Public Health Code, the sentence can be the withdrawal of the advertisement and a fine up to 75,000 € for individuals or 375,000 € for companies or 50% of the advertisement’s fees; in case of recidivism, the interdiction to sell the product for 5 years. 53 TGI Paris, 18 May 2017, no. 17/54224. 54 TGI Paris, 14 September, 2017, no. 14/16592, and CA Paris, 14 November 2019, no. 17/18804.