TTB Proposes Overhaul of Alcoholic Beverage Labeling and Advertising Regulations

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is proposing an overhaul of its regulations on the labeling and advertising of wine, distilled spirits and malt beverages. The proposed rule would reorganize the regulations “to simplify and clarify regulatory standards,” and would also incorporate requirements currently set by guidance and policy documents directly into the regulations. Comments on the proposal are due March 26.

“TTB is undertaking this modernization effort to improve understanding of the regulatory requirements and to make compliance easier and less burdensome,” it said. For example, the agency is proposing to clarify provisions on country of origin labeling by including references to the customs regulations, as well as information currently found in policy bulletins on how to mark country of origin and importer addresses in cases in which a wine, malt beverage or distilled spirit is from multiple countries or has been imported and bottled by different entities.

Many of the changes would modernize outdated requirements. For example, one would update alcohol content regulations to reflect the overturning by the Supreme Court of a ban on alcohol content statements on malt beverage labels. Another would remove a ban on the use of the term “pre-war strength,” which refers to the period before World War I, TTB said.

New requirements set by the proposal would include mandatory information on opaque packaging of malt beverages, as currently required for distilled spirits and wine, as well as mandatory information on “closed packaging” of wine, distilled spirits or malt beverages. The proposed rule would also ban the use of terms that apply to one commodity on labels of another commodity, such as wine terms on a malt beverage label, where the inclusion of those terms might mislead consumers. Use of such terms would still be allowed in other circumstances such as references to aging malt beverages in barrels previously used for the storage of distilled spirits or wine.

TTB would also in the proposed rule set a five-year period for retaining records related to approved certificates of label approvals (COLAs). Current regulations require that importers provide a copy of the applicable COLA upon request by a TTB or CBP officer, but don’t specify how long COLAs should be retained in importer records.

(Federal Register 11/26/18)