Wine Law

g) specific references to reduction of the alcoholic content of a product are acceptable, provided that there are no implications or conclusions concerning safety or quantity that may be consumed by virtue of such reduction; h) no positive association between product consumption and driving vehicles shall be made; i) consumption in improper, illegal, dangerous or socially condemnable situations shall not be encouraged; j) no association of the product with performance of any professional activity shall be made; k) no association of the product with situations that suggest aggressiveness, use of weapons and changes of emotional equilibrium shall be made; l) no use of uniforms of Olympic sports shall be made as support to promote a brand. Besides the general restrictions already mentioned, Brazilian advertisers must include warning sentences, which aim to emphasise the social responsibility of a moderate consumption. Usually, the warning sentences proposed by legislations are along the lines of the folllowing: “Drink with Caution”, “Wine is an Alcoholic Beverage. Sale and Consumption are Prohibited to Minors”, “This Product is Destined for Adults”, “Avoid Excessive Alcohol Consumption”, “Do Not Exaggerate Consumption”, “The Less You Drink More Fun You Have”, “If You Drive, Don’t Drink” Or “To Serve Alcoholic Beverage to Minors than 18 is a Crime”. The wine warning sentences arises from the tobacco legislation. Wineries and all collectivity that deal with wine, being winemakers or consumers, consider inappropriate any similarity and any interference of the tobacco legislation over the wine market. It is also inappropriate, but up to now acceptable, to impose to beverages like beer and wine the same restrictions applicable to spirits and distillates beverages. Those warning sentences are also usually regulated in terms of position, sizes, time permanence. It constitutes an expropriation of the property in favour of the State. Advertisers are being called upon to support the burden of losing space and time in the advertising in favour of a social benefit, being requested to support the costs of the so-called “ educational sentences”. The courts have faced inquiries around the world by the tobacco industries, and the decisions recognise the pertinent of the bill and the right of the state.