OLG alcohol is not wholesome even in beer

OLG Stuttgart prohibits advertising of the Swabian Härle brewery
Beer may not be advertised as "digestible". Such advertising is incompatible with EU requirements and therefore anti-competitive, judged on Thursday, November 3, 2016, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Stuttgart (Az .: 2 U 37/16). Accordingly, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg and the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig had already decided on wine.

The Härle brewery in Leutkirch, Swabian, in the Allgäu in 2015 advertised three beers as "wholesome", such as the "Härle Gold" with an alcohol content of 5.1 percent as "wholesome, tasty - but not heavy". The "Association Social Competition" based in Berlin considered this inadmissible and complained.

(Image: nitr / fotolia.com)

The background to this is the EU's "Health Claims Ordinance" in 2006. Thereafter, health-related advertising for beverages with an alcohol content of more than 1.2% alcohol by volume is prohibited.

In the dispute over supposedly digestible wine, the ECJ had already stressed that this is true even if the statement is true in itself; it is sufficient "that the mere maintenance of a good state of health, despite the potentially harmful consumption is suggested" (judgment and JurAgentur-message of 6 September 2012, Az .: C 544/10). As a result, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that wine should not be promoted and marketed as "wholesome" (judgment and JurAgentur report dated 14 February 2013, file no. C 23.12).

This jurisdiction now transferred the OLG Stuttgart to beer. The word "digestible" is commonly understood as "easily digestible", "beneficial" or even "healthy". In the end, this means the "long-term promise" that the food promoted in such a way does not hurt in any way. Such a promise is incompatible with EU law.

However, the EU Regulation allows exemptions for terms traditionally used with certain foods. That was not far off with "wholesome" beer, "explained the Stuttgart judges. Such an exemption, however, required a formal license. This is currently not available. Against his judgment, the OLG allowed the revision of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe.

In any case, on the internet, the brewery now uses the description "full-bodied, tasty - but not heavy" for her "Härle Gold". mwo / fle