Norway’s Christian Democrats want to put warnings on beer, wine, and spirits bottles
The Christian Democrats (KrF) favor labeling beer, wine, and spirits bottles in the same way as cigarettes.
“Alcohol has enormous harmful effects that cost individuals and society dearly,” KrF’s youth party KrFU wrote in the justification for the proposal, which was discussed at the party’s national meeting on Saturday.
A large majority in the party supported the proposal to label alcohol bottles with information about alcohol’s harmful effects in the same way as tobacco products.
In 2018, the Norwegian parliament (Storting) decided to introduce the labeling of bottles with health warnings about alcohol use during pregnancy and in connection with driving.
The KrF wants to take the practice a step further with more general warnings.
National alcohol strategy
In its national alcohol strategy, announced in March, the Norwegian government has already announced it would propose requirements for warning labeling on alcoholic beverages. It did not specify the type of warnings.
The Association of wine and spirits suppliers (VBF) reacted to KrF’s decision.
“I hope the party has not forgotten that we have an alcohol monopoly for goods over 4.7% alcohol in this country,” Secretary-General Ingunn Jordheim told NTB.
She pointed out that Norway has been allowed to have Vinmonopolet through an exception from the EEA agreement.
“If you have a monopoly, you must also not adopt laws or regulations that require certain goods to be designed in a certain way in order to be sold in the country. That is called technical barriers to trade and is not compatible with maintaining a monopoly,” she noted.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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