The European Court of Justice has ruled that alcohol-free gin cannot include the word gin in the name.
Judges have concluded that the name gin is “reserved for a specific alcoholic beverage”.
The case was brought by the German Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb, a business association which fights against what it sees as unfair competition.
The association successfully argued that Article 16 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits the presentation or labelling of non-alcoholic beverages as ‘non-alcoholic gin’.
The name gin is defined under EU law as a juniper-flavoured spirit drink made by flavouring ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin with juniper berries, with a minimum alcoholic strength of 37.5 percent.
The taste must be predominantly from juniper, and only natural or nature-identical flavourings can be used.
The court found that there is a “clear prohibition” in EU law on presenting and labelling a beverage as ‘non-alcoholic gin’ due to the very fact that that beverage does not contain alcohol.
“The fact that the legal name ‘gin’ is accompanied by the term ‘non-alcoholic’ is irrelevant in that regard.”
The court emphasised that the prohibition of using the name, does not prevent non-alcoholic gin from being sold in the European Union, but it will have to use different branding.
There are several Irish producers of alcoholic-free gin. It comes on the back of growing demand from consumers for low or non-alcoholic drinks.
The EU recently relaxed rules on the naming of non-alcoholic wines which previously had to be labelled as “fully and partially de-alcoholised” wines.