Europe’s top court announced Thursday that beverages bearing the name “gin” must contain alcohol.
The VSW German Business Association appealed in court, saying that a product sold by PB VI Goods and called “Virgin Gin Alcohol-Free” (“Non-Alcoholic Virgin Gin”) violates the 2019 EU definition of gin.
It states that “Gin must be produced by flavoring ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin with juniper berries, and must have a minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 37.5% of that ethyl alcohol,” as The court put it in a press release,
Non-Alcoholic Gin ‘Explicitly Prohibited’
A German court referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union and sought its opinion on the necessity of gin being an intoxicant.
“The Court finds that there is an express prohibition in EU law on presenting and labeling a beverage as ‘non-alcoholic gin’ simply because that beverage does not contain alcohol,” the court wrote. “The fact that the legal name ‘gin’ also carries the word ‘non-alcoholic’ is irrelevant in this regard.”
However, the court stressed that this did not prevent the company from selling its product, only preventing it from selling it with the word “gin” in its name.
“Furthermore, this prohibition is proportionate insofar as it aims to protect consumers from the risk of confusion as to the composition of the products as well as to gin producers who comply with the requirements laid down in EU law against unfair competition.”
Edited by Shawn Sinico