Wine Law

ADVERTISING IN FRANCE: A FOOL’S GAME? 311 3.3. The Restriction of the Media Allowed The case law clearly tends to make a narrow interpretation of the media allowed. 3.3.1. T HE PACKAGING IS REGARDED AS A REGULATED MEDIUM Up until recently, the packaging itself seemed to be excluded from the media that were concerned by the regulation of the advertising because of the wording of the law. Article L. 3323-4 of the Public Health Code stated that the packaging could be reproduced (on the advertising) as long as it complied with the law’s provision, and so it was not regarded as an advertising 49 . However, the High Court held otherwise, in 2017, in a case where Carlsberg was sponsoring a sports event in the UK 50 . It has decided so on several other occasions now. For instance, the use of the catch-line “ La 3ème mi-temps du RCT ” (“the third half of the rugby club of Toulon”) on a beer package was considered 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 . 49 E. Andrieu, Legipresse, °352, September 2017, pp. 452 et seq . 50 Cass. civ. 1 re , 5 July 2017, no. 16-14.978. 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.