Cott Éadaoin, Dunaiceva Jelena, White Philippa, Neely Runa Annasdotter, Lesch Matthew
Department for Health, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
Department of Family Medicine, Unisanté, Center for Primary Care and Public Health, University of Lausanne, Quartier Centre, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland.
Global Health. 2025 May 31;21(1):34. doi: 10.1186/s12992-025-01126-3.
Building on the success of tobacco health warning labels, EU Member States and institutions are increasingly considering similar requirements for alcohol products. While industry responses to pricing and availability policies have been widely studied, their framing of Alcohol Health Warning Labels (AHWLs) as a policy solution remains comparatively underexplored. This paper examines how alcohol industry stakeholders responded to the EU notification process for Ireland's proposed alcohol labelling regulations, introduced under Ireland's Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018.
This paper analyses 16 submissions from alcohol industry actors to the European Commission regarding Ireland's proposed alcohol warning label regulations. Qualitative methods, specifically thematic analysis, were used to examine industry arguments. The research team first reviewed five submissions to inductively develop a codebook, which was then applied to the remaining submissions, with new codes added as necessary. Two team members independently coded each submission, and thematic content was refined through team discussion.
Alcohol industry arguments against AHWLs fall into four main themes: lack of evidence supporting the content of health warning labels and their broader use, negative trade and economic impacts of AHWLs, potential risks to EU governance posed by Ireland's labels, and the industry's self-positioning as responsible actors committed to public health. In addition, we identify novel industry strategies related to the intricacies of AHWLs, including a heightened focus on wording and language, coordination of activities across multiple governance levels, and tailored framing to suit the institutional context.
Alcohol industry actors employ arguments similar to those seen in other policy debates, which continue to pose a significant barrier to evidence-based alcohol policymaking. The analysis suggests that industry actors can strategically adapt their arguments to varying institutional settings and policy instruments, demonstrating their political dexterity and reinforcing the barriers to policy progress. These findings highlight the need for further research into the alcohol industry's influence and provide insights for jurisdictions considering labelling legislation.
基于烟草健康警示标签的成功经验，欧盟成员国和机构越来越多地考虑对酒精产品实施类似要求。虽然业界对价格和供应政策的反应已得到广泛研究，但他们将酒精健康警示标签（AHWLs）作为一种政策解决方案的阐述仍相对缺乏探讨。本文研究了酒精行业利益相关者如何回应欧盟针对爱尔兰根据其2018年《公共卫生（酒精）法案》提出的酒精标签法规的通知程序。
本文分析了酒精行业参与者就爱尔兰拟议的酒精警示标签法规向欧盟委员会提交的16份意见书。采用定性方法，特别是主题分析法，来审视业界的论点。研究团队首先审查了五份意见书以归纳制定一个编码手册，然后将其应用于其余意见书，并根据需要添加新的编码。两名团队成员对每份意见书进行独立编码，并通过团队讨论对主题内容进行完善。
酒精行业反对AHWLs的论点主要分为四个主题：缺乏支持健康警示标签内容及其广泛使用的证据、AHWLs对贸易和经济的负面影响、爱尔兰标签对欧盟治理构成的潜在风险，以及该行业将自身定位为致力于公共卫生的责任行为体。此外，我们识别出与AHWLs的复杂性相关的新的行业策略，包括对措辞和语言的高度关注、跨多个治理层面的活动协调，以及为适应机构背景而进行的针对性阐述。
酒精行业行为体采用的论点与其他政策辩论中所见的论点相似，这继续对基于证据的酒精政策制定构成重大障碍。分析表明，行业行为体可以根据不同的机构环境和政策工具策略性地调整其论点，展示其政治灵活性并强化政策进展的障碍。这些发现凸显了对酒精行业影响力进行进一步研究的必要性，并为考虑标签立法的司法管辖区提供了见解。
