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Alcohol Beverage Sampling and Advertising Program

Introduction

In 2008 TTB established two market-based sampling programs, the Alcohol Beverage Sampling Program and the Alcohol Beverage Advertising Program.  Through these two programs, TTB determines the rate of compliance by the alcohol industry with Federal alcohol beverage laws and regulations regarding advertising, labeling, and product content on an annual basis.  TTB will review each alcohol beverage commodity—distilled spirits, wine, and malt beverages—on a three-year cycle for comparison purposes.

It is each industry member’s responsibility to comply with all labeling and advertising laws and regulations concerning its products as found in 27 CFR parts 4, 5, 7, and 16.  TTB’s sampling programs identify areas of non-compliance, and TTB raises awareness of these issues with regulated industry members so they may make any changes necessary to ensure that they are in compliance.
 
Sampling Program Methodology

Alcohol Beverage Sampling Program:  Label and Content Review

For the Alcohol Beverage Sampling Program (ABSP) TTB obtains a list from an independent source that identifies domestic and imported distilled spirits products currently sold in the United States.  We use a stratified random probability sampling process to identify products from this list for marketplace procurement, analysis, and evaluation.  We apply standard descriptive statistical techniques to produce accurate estimates of compliance across the sampled commodity industry.

TTB reviews the label of each product purchased for the ABSP to ensure that it contains all legally required information and matches it to an approved certificate of label approval (COLA).  TTB also tests each product to ensure that label information is accurate and to ensure that what is described on the label is what is actually inside the container.  This allows TTB to determine if the product is correctly labeled.

Alcohol Beverage Advertising Program:  Advertising Review

The Alcohol Beverage Advertising Program (ABAP) estimates overall advertising compliance by beverage type (i.e., distilled spirits, malt beverage, or wine) and media type (i.e., television, radio, print, internet other than paid ads, and outdoor) using basic statistical analysis of domestic producers’ and importers’ advertising selected through random stratified sampling procedures.  An independent source provides a list of television, radio, print, and outdoor ads that recently appeared in the marketplace.  This list serves as the sampling frame from which the ads for statistical analysis are randomly selected.  A TTB database of industry members serves as the sampling frame from which industry members’ websites are randomly selected for evaluation.
After deriving the samples from those two sources, TTB reviews all ads to determine their compliance with Federal regulations.  Examples of the advertising information examined includes, but are not limited to:  Name and address of the responsible advertiser; statements of class and type; distinctive designations or other statements that are inconsistent with applicable law and regulation or with approved product labels; statements that are false or misleading; statements, designs, or representations that are obscene or indecent; label depictions used in advertisements that are not approved product labels; depictions of the American flag; statements that make misleading curative, therapeutic, or other health related claims; incorrect statements of alcohol content; and references to carbohydrates, calories, fat, protein, and other macronutrient or “component” claims without a Statement of Average Analysis.  We then apply widely-accepted statistical analysis procedures for producing accurate estimates of compliance across the sampled commodity industry.

On-Going Program and Follow-Up

When TTB finds violations of Federal alcohol beverage laws and regulations via these programs, TTB contacts the responsible industry member and take appropriate enforcement action, which may include permit action or action relating to additional tax liability.  It is our goal that the sampling program results will improve our capability to more effectively target noncompliant industry members.

Questions

If you have any questions about the Alcohol Beverage Sampling Program, please contact the TTB Market Compliance Office at one of the following addresses:

Mail:	Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau Advertising, Labeling, and Formulation Division – MCO 1310 G Street, NW., Box 12 Washington, DC  20005
Phone:	(202) 453–2250 or (866) 927–2533 (toll free number) and press “5.”
E-mail:	market.compliance@ttb.gov
Fax:	(202) 453–2873