Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan;40(1):31-40.
doi: 10.1111/dar.13054. Epub 2020 Apr 2.

Alcohol labelling rules in free trade agreements: Advancing the industry's interests at the expense of the public's health

Deborah Gleeson  1 , Paula O'Brien  2
Affiliations

Alcohol labelling rules in free trade agreements: Advancing the industry's interests at the expense of the public's health

Deborah Gleeson et al. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Introduction and aims: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) included novel rules for wine and spirits requiring parties to allow wine and spirits importers to display information required by the importing country on a supplementary label rather than on the standard label. Since the TPP negotiations concluded, alcohol-specific supplementary labelling rules have begun to appear in other trade agreements. The aim of this paper was to map the new instruments containing these rules and examine developments in the rules with implications for health information on alcohol containers.

Design and methods: Trade agreements signed after the TPP negotiations concluded were retrieved and searched for alcohol-specific labelling provisions. A legal analysis of these provisions and related exceptions was undertaken.

Results: Supplementary labelling rules similar or identical to those in the TPP have been included in five subsequent trade agreements. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement also includes several additional provisions about alcohol labelling. Exceptions in the agreements provide some space for governments to defend labelling measure that might otherwise breach the rules, in the event of a dispute.

Discussion and conclusions: By securing these rules, the alcohol industry is better positioned to claim the space on the standard label as industry 'real estate' and to oppose mandatory health information incorporated into the standard labelling. These risks can be mitigated by stemming the adoption of supplementary labelling rules in further trade agreements; clarifying the text of agreements and ensuring that regulators understand that the rules do not prevent the use of 'best-practice' warning labels.

Keywords: alcohol labelling; health information; health warning label; supplementary label; trade agreement.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Babor TF, Caetano R, Casswell S et al. Alcohol: no ordinary commodity: research and public policy, 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
    1. Stockwell T, Zhao J, Panwar S, Roemer A, Naimi T, Chikritzhs T. Do ‘moderate’ drinkers have reduced mortality risk? A systematic review and meta-analysis of alcohol consumption and all-cause mortality. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 2016;77:185-98.
    1. Chikritzhs T, Stockwell T, Naimi T, Andreasson S, Dangardt F, Liang W. Has the leaning tower of presumed health benefits from ‘moderate’ alcohol use finally collapsed? Addiction 2015;110:726-7.
    1. World Health Organization. WHO global status report on alcohol and health 2018. Geneva: WHO, 2018.
    1. Stanaway JD, Afshin A, Gakidou E et al. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet 2018;392:1923-94.

LinkOut - more resources