Complaint against Jih Hsuan Trading Limited Company for selling wine of untrue labeling
Chinese Taipei
Case:
Complaint against Jih Hsuan Trading Limited Company for selling wine of untrue labeling.
Key words:
Untrue, false or misleading representations
Reference:
Fair Trade Commission of 1 July 1998 (347th Commission Meeting); Disposition (87) Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 8700147
Industry:
Import Trade (5601)
Relevant Law:
Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law
Summary:
This case originated from a complaint filed by the French Institute in Chinese Taipei. The respondent company was cited for its import and sale of Duc De Vallay and Comptess D'Orchamps, both of which bore the label "APPELLATION VINO TAVOLA."
"APPELLATION" stands for AOC, which is a legally defined district that produces wines, whereas "VINO TAVOLA" means "ordinary table wine." For this reason, it is alleged, "APPELLATION VINO TAVOLA" is a false representation and violates the Fair Trade Law.
Although there are currently no regulations in Chinese Taipei concerning the labeling of grape wines, if one examines the situation with the major wine producing countries around the world, one will see that most of the European countries distinguish the grade of the wine on the label. "Vin de Table" is the lowest grade and bears no indication of place of production, and "AOC" or "Appellation d'origine control'e" is the highest grade of wine.
Because France is generally known throughout the world for its production of grape wines, all books on grape wines will describe the grading and labeling system used in France, and the French grading and labeling system for grape wines has already become a standard for wine purchasing. It has, in short, become an important basis for the consumer to determine the quality of wine.
The investigation showed that the respondent imported Duc De Vallay and Comptess D'Orchamps on which the label indicated that the products were produced in France and included the words "APPELLATION VINO TAVOLA." As noted above, APPELLATION indicates a legally defined district that produces wines, whereas "VINO TAVOLA“ is Italian and means the lowest quality table wine. The label is nonsensical, and taken in conjunction with the Chinese label that states "French Special Grade Grape Wine," the consumer may be easily deceived when looking over the label. The consumer is thus likely to mistake the product as being AOC and purchase the product based on that mistake. This mistaken purchase would cause unfair competition for the authentic products from France.
In summary, the respondent caused its imported wines to be labeled falsely and this matter shall be disposed of in accordance with Article 41 of the Fair Trade Law.
Summarized by Li Wen-hsiu
Supervised by Wu Ting-hung
Appendix:
Jih Hsuan Trading Limited Company’s Uniform Invoice No.: 89449755