Wine Law

THE PROMOTION OF WINE AND TAXATION 447 Sale of Alcoholic Beverages to under 18 Age” or “If You Have Ingested Alcoholic Beverages, Do Not Drive” need to be placed in a visible place. Moreover, the article states a label must also be placed in a space of no smaller than 10% of the total area of the packaging or wrapping with the consequent phrase “Drinking Alcoholic Beverages In Excess Is Harmful”. Regarding marketing, when it is audiovisual, the same phrase must be displayed for at least 3 seconds and, if it is only audio (i.e. radio), it must be expressed at the end of the advertisement. In this regard, there is an administrative jurisprudence issued by the Peruvian consumer defence body – the National Institute for the Defence of Competition and Property Protection (INDECOPI in Spanish) –, which illustrates the zeal of the authority in protecting the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The organisers of the event Expovino Wong 2013 on wine promotion, which lasted three days, was sanctioned for not complying with the Law’s obligation to display the mentioned phrase “Drinking Alcoholic Beverages In Excess Is Harmful” in the distributed flyers. In the first instance, the administrative procedure applied a monetary fine of 1.5 Tax Units (UIT in Spanish), being later resolved in appeal, in which the Chamber (Superior body) let them go with only a reprimand. In relation to this, a sanction with an objective approach is lifted since it is not necessary to know if there is fraud or obvious damage, there only being potential damage that, in this case, is to the people attending the event without any distinction. According to the State body, the dissemination of the notice is minimal or minuscule and insufficient. Therefore, it would give rise to some people being able to consume wine excessively with consequent damage to collective health. This was applied to the Wong chain company organising the event, but it can also apply to every natural or legal person, irregular companies, autonomous estates or other entities, under public or private law, whether state or non-state, with or without purposes of profit, which offer or demand goods or services or whose associates, affiliates or union members carry out economic activity in the market, and even irregular companies, noting the wide extension of the norm in the desire to protect health. Similarly, another applicable law is the Consumer Code (Law No. 29571), which observes, in chapter IV, “Health and safety of consumers”, the protection of the wine consumer concerning wine producers. There is a consumer relationship formalised in the names of both agents, which the aforementioned Code expresses, defining “consumer” as: “natural or legal persons who acquire, use or enjoy as final recipients material products or services and intangible assets, for their own benefit or that of their family or professional group”; and