The German government recently adopted a law defining beer as any alcoholic beverage brewed in compliance with customary German brewing practices dating back to the year 1516. These practices mandate specific procedures for every step in the brewing process. Only natural ingredients are to be used in the brewing process. The use of additives is specifically prohibited. As a result, imported alcoholic beverages labeled and sold as beer in other states were prohibited from being sold as beer in Germany. Instead, such products could only be sold as malt beverages. The stated purposes of this law were to protect the public from products that contain additives and prevent confusion by German consumers who associate the term beer with traditional German brewing standards. The German law was challenged in court by Venezia Brewing Limited (VBL), an Italian company that wished to sell its malt beverage containing additives as beer in Germany. VBL claimed that the German law was inconsistent with a European Union regulation that established standards for but did not ban the use of additives in malt beverages. Does the German law violate European Union law, including the regulation? Why or why not? Would your answer be different if the European Union law was in the form of a directive that had not yet been implemented by Germany? Why or why not? Does VBL have standing to challenge the German law? Why or why not?
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