Title 27, Intoxicating LiquorsRelease 119-102

§213 Declaration of Policy and Purpose

Title 27 › CHAPTER 8 — FEDERAL ALCOHOL ADMINISTRATION ACT › SUBCHAPTER II — ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LABELING › § 213

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Requires a single, national health warning on every alcoholic beverage container to tell people about health risks from drinking or abusing alcohol. Congress decided clear, uniform warnings are needed so people aren’t given wrong or confusing information and so businesses aren’t hurt by different state rules. The federal government must set up a nationwide program for drinks made or sold across state lines to give the same warning and to avoid problems that would come from rules that applied only to interstate sales and not to drinks made and sold within one State.

Full Legal Text

Title 27, §213

Intoxicating Liquors, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Congress finds that the American public should be informed about the health hazards that may result from the consumption or abuse of alcoholic beverages, and has determined that it would be beneficial to provide a clear, nonconfusing reminder of such hazards, and that there is a need for national uniformity in such reminders in order to avoid the promulgation of incorrect or misleading information and to minimize burdens on interstate commerce. The Congress finds that requiring such reminders on all containers of alcoholic beverages is appropriate and necessary in view of the substantial role of the Federal Government in promoting the health and safety of the Nation’s population. It is therefore the policy of the Congress, and the purpose of this subchapter, to exercise the full reach of the Federal Government’s constitutional powers in order to establish a comprehensive Federal program, in connection with the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in or affecting interstate commerce, to deal with the provision of warning or other information with respect to any relationship between the consumption or abuse of alcoholic beverages and health, so that—
(1)the public may be adequately reminded about any health hazards that may be associated with the consumption or abuse of alcoholic beverages through a nationally uniform, nonconfusing warning notice on each container of such beverages; and
(2)commerce and the national economy may be—
(A)protected to the maximum extent consistent with this declared policy,
(B)not impeded by diverse, nonuniform, and confusing requirements for warnings or other information on alcoholic beverage containers with respect to any relationship between the consumption or abuse of alcoholic beverages and health, and
(C)protected from the adverse effects that would result from a noncomprehensive program covering alcoholic beverage containers sold in interstate commerce, but not alcoholic beverage containers manufactured and sold within a single State.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Act Aug. 29, 1935, ch. 814, title II, § 210, as added Nov. 18, 1988, Pub. L. 100–690, title VIII, § 8001(a)(3), 102 Stat. 4521, provided that: “Except as provided in section 204(a) [27 U.S.C. 215(a)], this title [enacting this subchapter] shall take effect on the date of its enactment into law [Nov. 18, 1988].”

Short Title

For

Short Title

of title II of act Aug. 29, 1935, which is classified to this subchapter, as the “Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act of 1988”, see section 201 of act Aug. 29, 1935, set out as a note under section 201 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

27 U.S.C. § 213

Title 27, Intoxicating Liquors

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102