DSICA
Column – Our Hotel – October 2007
Retailer Alert Scheme
By Gordon Broderick
During the middle of the year, the Victorian Minister
for Consumer Affairs announced that the Victorian Government would ban an alcohol
product sold in a tube. A number of Australian states have this power, although
it is rarely ever used. DSICA is only aware of one other product in recent years – Moo
Juice – receiving similar treatment. NSW has also banned frozen alcohol
and alcohol vapour products.
In a further effort to promote responsible consumption
of alcohol, the alcohol industry has decided to introduce an exciting new initiative.
It plans to make the most significant changes in a decade to the ABAC Scheme,
whereby its current coverage will be expanded to include naming and packaging
of alcohol beverages. A process will set up known as the Retailer Alert Scheme.
If this change was announced by government the health lobby would be shouting
from the roof tops. Disappointingly, however, the health lobby’s response
has ranged from grudging support to cynical opposition. To their credit, the
Commonwealth and NSW Governments have provided strong support for this initiative.
More about this later.
Under the current arrangements, alcohol advertising is
regulated by the ABAC Code, but the names or packaging of products are not covered.
Therefore, a product with an entirely inappropriate name or design could end
up on our shelves. But as long as the producer didn’t advertise, the product
would not be subject to the ABAC Scheme. The alcohol industry identified this
as a regulatory gap.
In terms of international experience, the Portman Group
in the UK, a self-regulatory body funded by the alcohol beverage industry, has
developed a Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcohol
Drinks. The operation of this Code since its inception in 1989 has been highly
successful. Since then, over 70 products have been removed from the market as
the result of upheld complaints, either permanently, or until their name or packaging
could be amended in line with the Code’s rules. (Compare 70 products to
the 2 or 3 banned in Australia!)
Some of these names would make a sailor blush.
The printable ones include Dooleys, Love Juice, and Rocket Fuel Vodka.
As mentioned,
Australia’s proposed Retailer Alert Scheme will extend the reach of the
ABAC standards to also cover the naming and packing of alcohol beverages. Such
standards aim to ensure that alcoholic beverages are named and packaged in a
manner that presents a mature, balanced and responsible approach to the consumption
of alcohol beverages, and accordingly must not encourage excessive consumption
or abuse of alcohol, encourage under-age drinking, suggest a change of mood or
promote offensive behaviour.
But before the industry introduces the Retail Alert
Scheme, it must receive approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC) to introduce such a scheme. This involves applying for an “authorisation” under
the Trade Practices Act. The authorisation process involves several rounds of
public consultation to allow “interested parties” to comment on the
scheme.
In all, the ACCC has received a first round of 14 submissions from interested
parties. Almost all submissions were from the health lobby or government bodies.
Overall, there was broad support for a Retailer Alert Scheme, and the general
view was that any costs associated with restricting competition would be outweighed
by the benefits from the proposed scheme.
Disappointingly, a number of submissions
decried industry’s efforts regarding this exciting new initiative. For
example, in an email submission from the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia
(ADCA) they suggested that “the main purpose served by this proposal is
for the alcohol industry to be seen to be doing something about harmful drinking
in order to avert more effective government regulation”. It appears that
the industry is damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.
DSICA encourages
readers to view these submissions to the ACCC (see link below). It provides an
extremely interesting but concerning insight into the mind-set of some elements
of the health lobby.
It is expected that the ACCC will issue a final determination
regarding the industry’s application later this month. If this is granted
then the industry will roll out the scheme, with a planned start up date of 1
January 2008. The industry is very excited about the new scheme and we earnestly
believe that along with other measures, it will help reduce levels of underage
drinking and alcohol misuse.
