Title II: Beverages

A person or company engaged in the manufacture or import of an alcoholic beverage from the third, fourth or fifth group must, before offering this beverage for sale or offering it free of charge, make a declaration in duplicate to the indirect taxation authorities, stating, together with his or her name and address, the name of the beverage, its composition and the use, as an aperitif or digestive, for which…

None of the beverages referred to in Article L. 3322-1 may, in France and in all territories under French jurisdiction, be supplied by the manufacturer or importer, held, transported, offered for sale, sold or provided free of charge, unless it bears on the label, together with its name, the name and address of the manufacturer or importer, and the description “digestif” or “apéritif”. This description must be reproduced on invoices…

The following are prohibited in France, except for export abroad: the manufacture, possession and circulation for the purpose of sale, the offering for sale, the sale and offer free of charge: 1° Wine-based aperitif beverages containing more than 18 degrees of alcohol; 2° Aniseed-flavoured spirits containing more than 45 degrees of alcohol; 3° Bitters, tar, gentian and similar products with a sugar content of less than 200 grams per litre…

As stated in article 347 of the general tax code, reproduced below: “The manufacture, circulation, possession with a view to sale and sale of absinthe and similar liqueurs whose characteristics are determined by decree are prohibited. “

Producers or manufacturers of essences that may be used in the manufacture of alcoholic beverages, such as essences of aniseed, star anise, fennel and hyssop, as well as producers or manufacturers of anethol, are prohibited from selling or offering said products free of charge to any persons other than beverage manufacturers acting as warehousekeepers vis-à-vis the indirect taxation authorities, pharmacists, perfumers, manufacturers of food or industrial products and direct export…

It is forbidden for street vendors to sell by retail, either for consumption on the premises or to take away, drinks from the fourth and fifth groups.

Cooperatives operating in the workplace may not sell on credit, or at a price lower than that of the local trade, the drinks included in the third, fourth and fifth groups defined by article L. 3321-1. These cooperatives may not hold a third or fourth category on-trade drinks licence. Any duly recorded breach of the provisions of the first paragraph of this article will be punished by the immediate withdrawal…

The dispensing of alcoholic beverages from vending machines is prohibited.

It is forbidden to sell on credit, either by the glass or in bottles, drinks from the third, fourth and fifth groups for consumption on the premises or to take away. Except in the context of declared traditional festivals and fairs, or new ones authorised by the State representative in the département under conditions defined by decree in the Conseil d’Etat, or in the case of tastings with a view…