Obstacle to trade? Irish hard line on alcohol labeling faces backlash

19 Jun 2023 --- Ireland plans to introduce some of the strictest alcohol labeling laws in May 2026, requiring warnings about cancer, drinking while pregnant and liver disease risks. However, implementing the new regulation faces mounting opposition from industry, EU countries and some overseas World Trade Organization (WTO) members. The issue of whether the tough label laws will impact trade and market dynamics is to be debated this week.

The Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV), the association representing European wine companies, has filed a formal complaint with the European Commission to open an infringement procedure against Ireland accusing them of breaching EU law.

Drinks Ireland also accused the new legislation of breaking EU harmonization laws last month.

Moreover, the Irish draft regulations will be discussed during Technical Barriers to Trade Committee WTO meetings this week.

Irish Health Minister, Stephen Donnely, said last week that the Irish government will not listen to the industry’s calls to wait longer than the 2026 date to implement the law.

“Unjustified and disproportionate barrier to trade”
The CEEV says that the Irish draft law has received “substantial critics” from 13 member states and from EU main trading partners, “among them the US and the UK.”

The CEEV says that the Irish draft law has received “substantial critics” from 13 member states and from EU main trading partners.“The provisions included in the Irish labeling regulations are incompatible with current EU law and constitute an unjustified and disproportionate barrier to trade under EU legislation. They will fragment the EU Single Market by affecting its proper functioning, hindering access of products from other member states to Ireland and thus generating clear discrimination to imported products,” says Mauricio González-Gordon, president of CEEV. 

González-Gordon explains how the provision “fails to distinguish” between alcohol abuse and moderate wine consumption.

“While we fully support the fight against alcohol abuse, we strongly believe this objective could be achieved by more effective and less trade-restrictive measures that should be, in addition, compatible with current EU law.”

The Irish proposed law could also breach legislation regarding indications of alcohol content and energy value, according to the CEEV.

Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, secretary general of the CEEV, highlights that the European Commission’s failure to act against the Irish draft law is an “inexplicable failure.” 

Italian agriculture representative body Coldiretti also criticized the law, saying it threatens the country’s US$8.62 billion wine exports and the millenary Mediterranean diet. Coldiretti warns the approval of the legislation “risks opening the door in Europe and the world” to similar laws.

“It is completely improper to assimilate the excessive consumption of spirits typical of the Nordic countries to the moderate and conscious consumption of quality products with lower alcohol content such as beer and wine, which in Italy has become the emblem of a lifestyle slow, attentive to the psycho-physical balance that helps to feel good about oneself, to be contrasted with the unregulated intake of alcohol,” said Ettore Prandini, president of Coldiretti. 

WTO meeting
The WTO reunites this week to hold a special meeting of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade. Global Burden of Disease data shows that an estimated 4.8% of all deaths are attributable to alcohol.

The Ireland delegation is set to face comments and criticism from multiple countries, as in a previous WTO meeting, the US, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and some EU nations raised concerns about the restrictive alcohol law.

Skepticism to the law came because the bill was signed into law without consideration of other WTO members, because it is more trade restrictive than necessary to fulfill the objectives of the legislation and because some WTO countries thought more information was needed about the law.

Alcohol deaths
The Irish government noted when they approved the law that light to moderate drinking levels caused 23,000 new cancer cases in 2017, about half of which were breast cancers.

Global Burden of Disease data shows that an estimated 4.8% of all deaths are attributable to alcohol. 

The labeling could raise awareness of the dangers of alcohol as a Healthy Ireland survey revealed four in five respondents are unaware of the risks of breast cancers associated with alcohol, 52% of the increased risks of ulcers and 49% of the links of alcohol consumption and high blood pressure.

Those aged 15 and 24 are the least aware of the risks associated with heavy drinking.

By Marc Cervera