In February this year, Heineken was forced to close its French website as the judge in the case filed against it by an anti-alcohol group ruled that since Internet was not on a 1991 list of approved media for alcohol publicity, web-based wine, beer and any alcohol ads were illegal.
"It is ridiculous not to be able to use the Internet, the law must be adapted," said Alain Vironneau, president of the Bordeaux Wine Board (the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, or CIVB). "It's an extraordinary communications tool and it would be idiotic for the development of the wine business not to be able to use it," he said.
The strong anti-alcohol measurements are being introduced as the French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot gets ready to introduce new laws to curb binge drinking among younger drinkers in October. There are possibilities of a ban on happy hours and open bars, raising the legal age for buying beer and wine from 16 to 18 (in India it is 25 in most states!), and a ban on alcohol sales at the service stations.
While fully supporting moderate drinking, the French wine sector fears it will be unnecessarily penalised by any new laws.
A government working group has been formed with its members announced on June 5. Its objective is to study ways of allowing the wine sector to communicate via the web.
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