Lawmakers are calling for changes after saying the warning labels on Taiwanese liquor bottles are too small and not displayed clearly enough.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said the mandated warning “Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health” for liquor manufactured at the Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor and the Matsu Liquor Factory Industry Co have warning labels that are too small to be read.
However, officials at the Kinmen Kaoliang winery said there is no special requirement for warning labels on bottles, as the current laws only apply to advertising, which require the warnings be one-tenth the size of the commercial content.
According to Article 37 of the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act (菸酒管理法), advertising and marketing of alcohol must have the warning label clearly shown and violations can be penalized with a fine between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000.
Chiang said the current warning labeling of products from the Kinmen and Matsu wineries was an obvious attempt to skirt the law.
In response, the general manager of Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor, Wu Chiou-mu (吳秋穆), said all alcohol products from his company conform to legal requirements, and the warning label requirement is directed at marketing and commercial advertising, and does not apply to the labels on bottles.
“However, we will take a good look at this issue, and deliberate on what should be done,” Wu said.
Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp chairman Hsu An-hsuan (徐安旋) said there were no specific legal requirements governing the placement and size of warning labels on liquor bottles.
He said current laws only address the proportion requirements for the advertising of alcohol products in electronic and print media.
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