Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms' (BATF) implementation of the Alcoholic Beverage Labelling Act of 1988.
GAO found that: (1) the law requires a health warning label on all alcoholic beverage containers bottled on or after November 18, 1989; (2) BATF relied upon current regulations related to labelling wine and distilled spirits to determine the requirements for disclosure of the health warning statement; (3) 38 percent of the labels BATF had approved as of May 1989 did not have the warning statement emphasized in bold type; and (4) disagreements with the proposed warning statements concerned the warning's placement size or the typeface used. GAO also found that the sponsors of the legislation were concerned because: (1) the proposed rules did not ensure the conspicuous placement of the warning statement; (2) BATF only considered two sizes of alcoholic beverage containers; and (3) BATF did not highlight the warning with an outlining box in a larger boldface than proposed.
