Health warning labels to be displayed on alcohol products are set to be delayed because of the ongoing trade tariff disagreement with the United States.
From next year, Ireland is to become the first country in the world to implement comprehensive health warning labels on alcohol products, including warnings about liver disease, cancer, and the risks of drinking while pregnant. The labelling will also include nutritional information, such as calorie content.
Tánaiste Simon Harris said this week that the introduction of the labels, a step which is expected to be brought in during this Government’s next term, will need to be delayed due to the trade tariff dispute with the US. Concerns have been building due to President Donald Trump threatening to impose 50% tariffs (a 30% increase) if a deal was not struck by 9th July.
Mr Harris said on Wednesday that there are just “13 days to do a deal between Europe and the United States” to protect jobs and the economy in Ireland and across the EU.
“It is true that there’s a decision to be made now in terms of when to proceed with the issue of labelling, and it is my view that we will need to delay that,” Mr Harris said.
“I think we need to do that for a variety of reasons, most particularly the situation in relation to trade and tariffs,” he added.
“We have to protect jobs, we have to protect investment, and we have to support Irish businesses and Irish industry at a really key moment of economic turbulence.”
The labels were set to come into effect on 22nd May 2026, however, they have sparked division. Enterprise Minister Peter Burke has formally asked the Health Minister, Jennifer Carroll McNeill to consider pausing the introduction of the labels in the light of trade challenges.
While the Alcohol Health Alliance is supporting a push for the labels to be placed on alcohol products, not unlike those seen on cigarette packaging, strong concern has emerged among Irish alcohol distributors that they will be disadvantaged against foreign and US retailers as tariffs loom.
‘VIRTUE SIGNALLING’
Vincent Jennings, Chief Executive Officer at Convenience Stores & Newsagents Association (CSNA) told Drinks Industry Ireland on Thursday that a failure to reach an agreement will cause significant difficulties to the Irish drinks industry, particularly for the whiskey producers.
“Tariffs will make our products more costly, providing a competitive advantage to other whisky producers, foreign and US,” he said, stressing his opinion that alcohol health warning labels will only “limit” customers’ choices.
“The health labels are an example of virtue signalling, we will never be able to prove or disprove their effectiveness to consumers but their presence will most certainly restrict range and reduce choice for our customers.”
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation published a new report this month endorsing alcohol labelling as a policy option to reduce alcohol-related harm.
It said this could involve providing information on packaging about alcohol content, ingredients, nutritional information and health warnings. Such a move, it said, could raise risk awareness, increase support for other alcohol policies, and decrease product appeal.
The impact of these warnings will, however, it added, depend on their content and design. It says that compared to other topics, cancer-specific warnings are “more relevant and likely to prompt discussions about alcohol risks and encourage reconsideration of alcohol consumption.”
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