The umbrella trade association for Europe’s spirits industry has accused Irish authorities of going too far with its proposed revision of labelling rules for beverage alcohol.
The country is looking to introduce additional warnings on alcoholic products featuring the messages ‘drinking alcohol causes liver disease’, ‘there is a direct link between alcohol and fatal cancers’, as well as a symbol highlighting representing the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant and the numbers of grams of alcohol and of calories in the product. The moves build on the Irish 2018 Public Health [Alcohol] Act, with the path being cleared domestically by last year’s draft Public Health Regulations.
Subsequently, SpiritsEurope confirmed this week the lodging of a complaint to the European Commission, claiming that the messages “represent a deviation from EU harmonised rules and a disproportionate trade barrier under EU law”. According to the organisation, the warnings are “very general and unqualified” while “less restrictive options to trade [than the proposed labelling] clearly exist”.
“For good reasons, the right to restrict the freedom of movement of goods in the Single Market is
subject to strict rules,” said director general Ulrich Adam. “Trade barriers must be justified and proportionate, meaning that no other options, less restrictive of the trade between Member States are available to Ireland.
“We believe Ireland has failed to demonstrate the admissibility of their measures on both these criteria.”
Citing procedural rules, SpiritsEurope said the commission has 15 days to confirm receipt of its complaint and 12 months to assess its content.
According to a report in The Lancet earlier this year, a survey by the Department of Health in 2021 found that “alcohol consumption in Ireland remains high, with 37% of those aged 15 years or older drinking alcohol at least once a week and 15% participating in binge drinking”.
