NCSLA Statement on Caffeinated Alcohol Beverages

NCSLA APPLAUDS ACTION BY FEDERAL AGENCIES ON CAFFEINATED ALCOHOL BEVERAGES

Friday, November 19, 2010

The National Conference of State Liquor Administrators commends the collaborative efforts and recent actions of several federal agencies and attorneys general to require companies manufacturing and selling caffeinated alcohol beverages to address the health and safety issues of these products.

NCSLA would also like to recognize some of our State members (California, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin) who have taken swift action to limit the sale and distribution of these products in light of recent tragic consequences. State Alcohol Agencies are entrusted to enforce the laws and regulations governing beverage alcohol and their existence are crucial to ensure public health and safety first and foremost, balanced with responsible sales, distribution and taxation in the marketplace. They will now begin the arduous task of working with all industry tiers and issue guidance to effectively recall these products in a timely and compliant manner.

These products and their regulation in terms of additives to traditional alcoholic beverages will be topics debated at the upcoming NCSLA Annual Conference in June, 2011.

NCSLA represents beverage alcohol regulatory agencies in the United States, District of Columbia, and other local jurisdictions whose primary purposes are to: 1) promote the enactment of the most effective and equitable types of state alcoholic beverage control laws; 2) devise and promote the use of methods which provide the best enforcement of the particular alcoholic beverage control laws in each state; 3) work for the adoption of uniform laws insofar as they may be practicable; 4) promote cooperation with the federal government in its administration of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act; and 5) strive for harmony in the administration of the alcoholic beverage control laws among the several states.

Read press release as pdf.