Starting in September next year, all alcoholic beverages sold in the market will carry an image of a car warning of the dangers of drunk driving and an image warning of the risks of drinking during pregnancy.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 29th, the ministry prepared a draft partial revision of the Enforcement Rules of the National Health Promotion Act and a full revision notice of the content of the heavy drinking warning text.
This revision is being made to strengthen visual information so consumers can intuitively recognize the harms of drinking before consuming alcohol. Until now, labels carried the phrase "Excessive drinking is harmful to health." However, authorities judged that this alone lacked a sufficient warning effect, so they plan to add illustrations (pictograms) depicting specific dangerous situations to heighten awareness.
Regarding drunk driving, a prohibition sign image featuring a glass, a bottle, and a car will be added alongside the phrase "Drunk driving can endanger your life and the lives of others." Through this, authorities plan to convey that drunk driving is not a simple mistake but a criminal act that threatens others' lives.
While the risks of drinking during pregnancy were mentioned in the existing text, the revised plan requires attaching a silhouette image of a pregnant woman together with the direct phrase "Drinking during pregnancy increases the risk of fetal deformities or miscarriage."
At the same time, the text will be updated to inform that alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen and to warn of the risks of liver and stomach cancer and the inhibition of growth and brain development in adolescents.
Technical labeling methods will also be improved so consumers can more easily read the warnings. The font size of the warning text will increase according to the bottle's capacity. Even small bottles of 300 ml or less must secure a minimum font size of 10 points (p), and large products over 1 liter must display the warning in large letters of at least 18 p. In particular, for containers with fully coated surfaces like canned beer, a detailed rule requires the font to be 2 p larger than the standard.
Design rules to enhance legibility have also become stricter. The warning text will be standardized in a noticeable Gothic typeface. In addition, to prevent tricks that make the warning blend into the background, the background color of the warning text must clearly contrast with the rest of the bottle label (such as using complementary colors). The warning image is also standardized to use a black silhouette with a red circle and a slash so anyone can immediately recognize the meaning of "prohibition" and "danger."
The placement of the labeling is also designated for where consumers' eyes naturally fall. When printed directly on the brand label, it must be at the bottom of the label; when using a sticker, it must be attached in a visible spot at the bottom of the label. If the warning text and image are displayed together, they must be arranged so the two elements appear consecutively to maximize visual impact.
This revised plan is a follow-up measure to the amendment to the National Health Promotion Act promulgated in Mar. and is scheduled to take effect in earnest on Sept. 19 next year.