On the Bottle: Health Information, Alcohol Labelling and the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement

QUT Law Review, Vol 18, No. 1, 2018, 1-32

33 Pages Posted: 22 Apr 2018 Last revised: 22 Feb 2019

See all articles by Paula O'Brien

Paula O'Brien

University of Melbourne - Law School

Andrew D. Mitchell

Faculty of Law, Monash University

Date Written: March 16, 2018

Abstract

Since 2010, the World Health Organization has advocated the use of health information labelling to inform consumers of the health risks related to alcohol consumption. The alcohol industry oscillates between opposing and supporting alcohol labelling. This article reviews the minutes of the meetings of the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) (from 2010 to the present day) to garner unique insights into the specific features of alcohol health information labelling that are opposed by the alcohol industry. The article also identifies and analyses the trade law arguments that are made against these contested labelling measures. These arguments primarily come from the WTO’s TBT Agreement. Our view is that the TBT Agreement will provide little comfort to alcohol exporting members who seek to rely on it to challenge alcohol health labelling measures, such as those discussed in the TBT Committee.

Suggested Citation

O'Brien, Paula and Mitchell, Andrew D., On the Bottle: Health Information, Alcohol Labelling and the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (March 16, 2018). QUT Law Review, Vol 18, No. 1, 2018, 1-32, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3166690 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3166690

Paula O'Brien

University of Melbourne - Law School ( email )

University Square
185 Pelham Street, Carlton
Victoria, Victoria 3010
Australia

Andrew D. Mitchell (Contact Author)

Faculty of Law, Monash University ( email )

Wellington Road
Clayton, Victoria 3800
Australia

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
168
Abstract Views
1,062
Rank
272,926
PlumX Metrics