Internal Revenue Service
Revenue Ruling

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 Rev. Rul. 57-27

1957-1 C.B. 624

IRS Headnote

All of the mandatory information on labels is not required to be reproduced on cartons or other wrappers for imported distilled spirits or wine by reason of such carton or other wrapper bearing a required notation as to the country of origin, or, in the case of distilled spirits, the statement `This package may be opened for examination by internal revenue officers.'

Full Text

Rev. Rul. 57-27

Advice has been requested whether, where there appears on a carton a statement as to the country of origin, pursuant to a customs requirement, or the statement `This package may be opened for examination by internal revenue officers,' pursuant to Treasury Decision 6205, C.B. 1956-2, 1012, such carton must also contain all of the mandatory information referred to in section 31 of the Regulations relating to the Labeling and Advertising of Wine, or section 31 of the Regulations relating to the Labeling and Advertising of Distilled Spirits.

Section 31 of the respective regulations, which are similar in their content, provide that if the container or bottle is in an individual carton, covering, or other wrapper used for sale at retail (other than a shipping carton, covering, or wrapper of the container), displaying thereon any written, printed, graphic, or other matter, other than the name and address of the producer, importer, or person by whom bottled or packed (and, in addition, the name and address of the person for whom bottled or packed), and such individual covering, carton, or other wrapper obscures the mandatory label information required to be stated, and such individual covering, carton, or other wrapper fails to reproduce on it, in the same manner, all information so obscured; or if any statement required to appear on the label, or upon such individual covering, carton, or other wrapper, is obscured in any other manner or is modified in any manner, the container shall be deemed to be misbranded.

Pursuant to a notice issued by the Bureau of Customs, dated September 17, 1956, 21 F.R. 7192, the imported container in which an article is imported and sold to the ultimate purchaser must be marked to indicate the name of the country of origin of the imported article contained therein when practice shows that the ultimate purchaser of the imported article does not usually have an opportunity to remove the article from the container prior to purchase.

The regulations relating to the Warehousing of Distilled Spirits, the Bottling of Taxpaid Distilled Spirits, and the Rectification of Spirits and Wines, as amended by Treasury Decision 6205, supra , provide that bottles of distilled spirits may be enclosed in sealed, opaque cartons or wrappers if such cartons or wrappers bear the legend, `This package may be opened for examination by internal revenue officers.'

The question here involved is whether the language `any written, printed, graphic or other matter,' contained in section 31 of the said labeling and advertising regulations, is intended to include the above statements required to be placed on outer wrappers. While on a literal reading alone, the language of the regulations is specific, it should be construed in the light of its obvious purpose to require the reproduction of all mandatory information on any carton or wrapper which contains written, printed, or graphic matter descriptive of or pertaining to the contents of the packages. It is accordingly held that the provisions of section 31 of the Regulations relating to the Labeling and Advertising of Wine, and section 31 of the Regulations relating to the Labeling and Advertising of Distilled Spirits, do not operate to require the reproduction of all the mandatory information on cartons or wrappers which bear only a statement of the country of origin or the language required by Treasury Decision 6205, supra .