Wine Law

286 WINE LAW The USA Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) rules 32 establish that “no person engaged in the business as a producer, rectifier, blender, importer, or wholesaler of wine, directly or indirectly or through an affiliate, shall publish or disseminate or cause to be published or disseminated by radio or television broadcast, or in any newspaper, periodical, or any publication, by any sign or outdoor advertisement, or any other printed or graphic matter, any advertisement of wine, if such advertising is in, or is calculated to induce sale in, interstate or foreign commerce, or is disseminated by mail, unless such advertisement is in conformity with §§4.60-4.65 of this part.”. Moreover, it defines “advertisement” as “(…) any written or verbal statement, illustration, or depiction which is in, or calculated to induce sales in, interstate or foreign commerce, or is disseminated by mail, whether it appears in a newspaper, magazine, trade booklet, menu, wine card, leaflet, circular, mailer, book insert, catalog, promotional material, sales pamphlet, or any written, printed, graphic, or other matter accompanying the container, representations made on cases, billboard, sign, or other outdoor display, public transit card, other periodical literature, publication, or in a radio or television broadcast, or in any other media”. In order to advertise wine, the USA Code imposes Mandatory Statements, Legibility of Mandatory Information and Prohibited Practices: “voluntary codes specify that alcohol advertising should be restricted to media where 71.6% of the expected audience is of legal drinking age (≥ 21 years), should not depict excessive drinking or acceptance of drunken behavior, and should not claim or represent that alcohol consumption is related to success or status” 33 . Those rules are usually adopted by all countries, and we will deal with in sequence. Aligned with the USA legislation, the European countries have adopted similar criteria, with national laws ruling over alcohol promotion and a Directive harmonising the Audiovisual Media Services. This Directive results from a European Court Case. The French Loi Évin 34 of 1991 established several restrictions to broadcasting alcohol advertisements 35 , of which the most relevant are “1. no advertising should be targeted at young people; 2. no advertising is allowed on television or 32 Article 27 USC 205 - Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms Part 4, §4.60 Code of Federal Regulations. 33 Beer Institute, 2018; Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, 2011; Wine Institute, 2011. Cited by Laura J. Finan, et al., available i n https://www.jsad.com/doi/pdf/10.15288/jsads.2020.s19.42, accessed on 27 April 2020. 34 It takes its name from Claude Évin, then Minister of Health, who proposed it to Parliament. Article L3323-2 French Code de la Santé Public 35 Source: http://www.ias.org.uk/What-we-do/Publication-archive/The-Globe/Issue-2-2004-amp-1- 2004/The-Loi-Evin-a-French-exception.aspx, accessed on 30 April 2020.