French advertising law under fresh attack

Date: 17/10/1996

By Chris Johnstone

THE European Commission is considering a fresh attack on controversial French legislation which bans alcohol and tobacco advertising.

A new complaint against France's Loi Evin is being examined some three months after the Commission fired the first warning shot in its latest battle to enforce EU single market rules.

The case has been brought by a British-based seller of alcoholic drinks banned under French national law from sponsoring football's 1998 World Cup.

Although the World Cup is organised by the sport's governing body FIFA, the organisation must accept the local rules of the host country - in this case, France.

But advertisers maintain that the Loi Evin contravenes internal market rules and are stepping up pressure on the Commission to act. Their calls for a swift response are, however, likely to go unheeded, with Commission officials admitting this week that no decision on whether to open a new round of legal proceedings against France can be expected before December.

In July, the Commission started infringement proceedings against Paris for banning the broadcasting of sports events where adverts for alcohol were visible.

The French government maintains it has not yet received details of the Commission challenge and insists the 1991 law is justified on public health grounds.

But the advertising industry believes the Commission's challenge to the Loi Evin is a crucial test of whether anything like a single market in the sector can be created, or whether it will remain subject to a confusing patchwork of national rules.

“The French law goes against the entire EU principle of mutual recognition where what is cleared in one country should be acceptable in another,” said Anthony Arke, director of external affairs for the European Association of Advertising Agencies.

The first Commission action against the French advertising rules came in response to complaints sparked by a decision of the country's broadcasting watchdog, the Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA), to ban footage from soccer and rugby matches where shirt or hoarding adverts were sponsored by alcoholic drinks companies.

In the most celebrated case, the CSA pulled the plug on the broadcast of a European football match between Arsenal and France's Auxerre because the English club had beer adverts round the stadium.

Now foreign newspapers and magazines are becoming increasingly concerned that distribution of their titles could be banned if they carry adverts for alcoholic drinks .

France's defence of the law on health grounds has been undermined, claim industry sources, by its unashamed retreat in allowing cigarette advertising on Formula One Grand Prix cars after race organisers threatened to drop France from the international circuit.