Alcohol Archives

Twelve leading beer, wine and spirits companies have pledged to put clear age-restriction labels on their drinks and set tighter controls on access to their online content in a bid to reduce underage drinking.

The EU Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF), which aims to tackle alcohol-related harm, should come to an end because its stakeholders have not been able to find common ground, the outgoing EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis has said.

The European spirits industry has called on Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner-designate for health, to revive the European Alcohol and Health Forum, which has been inactive since 2015 after twenty public health NGOs decided to pull out.

In 2016, the deaths of 1.2 million Europeans under 75 were considered premature and could have been prevented, according to a report by Eurostat. EURACTIV's partner Ouest-France reports.

The European spirits industry launched a new web portal on Tuesday (12 March) to provide more consumer information on liquors and other distillates. However, it is still unclear whether such initiatives are in line with the European Commission's objectives.

Getting drunk is not the point of drinking wine, representatives from the wine sector said at a EURACTIV event to celebrate 10 years of an international programme that promotes a satisfactory and healthy approach to wine consumption.

The EU Alcohol and Health Forum, chaired by the European Commission, was established in June 2007. The Wine in Moderation programme was the commitment of the EU wine sector to the Forum.

“Information is power,” the boss of French spirits maker Pernod Ricard told EU policymakers last week, underlining the fundamental role of consumer education in reducing alcohol abuse, particularly among students.

2019 is a decisive year for the future of Europe. The voice of European students deserves to be heard to understand what they expect and how Europe can empower them to build a responsible, active and healthy Europe.

For the first time, Ireland has adopted legislation on the risks associated with alcohol, in a country where alcoholism has had devastating consequences. EURACTIV France’s media partner Ouest-France reports.

The European Commission is pushing for a “quick fix” solution to the alcohol labelling deadlock before the end of its mandate, an official close to the issue told EURACTIV.com.

If EU legislators decide to move away from self-regulation in the area of alcohol labelling, the legislation should respect the EU Food Information to Consumers Regulation, Pierre-Olivier Bergeron, the secretary-general of the Brewers of Europe told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

The industry’s proposal on alcohol labelling has some legal issues and does not satisfy the need to fully inform EU consumers, a European Commission spokesperson told EURACTIV.com,  raising fresh doubt as to how and when labelling will eventually be regulated.

A group of MEPs has called on the European Commission to turn down an industry proposal on alcohol labelling, claiming that alcoholic beverages should no longer enjoy a preferential regime compared to other foodstuffs.

The wine industry is pushing for the inclusion of its products’ labelling proposals in the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in order to give self-regulation a “legal basis and certainty”.

EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis is not pleased with the “inconsistent” proposal recently submitted by the alcohol industry on labelling and insisted that European consumers should be presented the full information of the products they purchase.

Scotland on Tuesday (1 May) introduced minimum pricing for alcohol, in what First Minister Nicola Sturgeon hailed as a "bold" and "brave" policy move that has endured years of legal battles.

The alcohol industry presented on 12 March their self-regulatory proposal on labelling, focusing on “flexibility” for wine, beer, spirits and cider. Alcohol makers will be free to decide whether to place information on the label, online or both.

Consumer needs and expectations should be the main drivers in defining alcohol labelling, a European Commission spokesperson told EURACTIV.com when asked about the effectiveness of online labelling,  an option the alcohol industry wants to introduce.

Nutritional information should be clearly marked on the labels of alcohol products, and the off-label proposals being put forward by industry are not sufficient, writes Professor Markus Peck-Radosavljevic.

Producers will decide how best to convey alcohol information – either on the label and online or just on the internet, EURACTIV.com has learnt.

Next month, the EU’s alcohol industry will come up with a much-awaited self-regulatory proposal about labelling of alcoholic beverages.

The decision to raise excise taxes on alcohol “penalises” the majority of consumers who drink responsibly, while those who have issues with alcohol will be unaffected as they will keep on drinking excessively, Alexandre Ricard told EURACTIV.com in an interview.