Battle continues over sale
of parallel imported liquor
PHILIPSBURG--Remove decoded Johnny Walker Scotch Whiskey, Smirnoff Vodka, and Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur from the shelves or face a court battle was the warning issued by the authorised distributor Monday to stores in Philipsburg selling these products with the bar codes cut or scratched off.
The battle over parallel imported liquors has been waging for years, but this time the products’ manufacturer and owner, Diageo Group of Companies, is tackling the problem from a different angle: as a health concern.
“Obliteration of our product code is serious, because we have no way of knowing where the product originates from. If for any reason there is a recall, the code is the only means of tracking the product,” Diageo Assistant Regional Counsel for Latin America and the Caribbean Carol Fernandez told The Daily Herald.
In a letter sent to all stores carrying parallel imports and decoded liquors by Bermon Law Office on behalf of local official distributor Philipsburg Liquor Store, proprietors were asked to stop selling the decoded liquors.
“Your deliberate and systematic sale of decoded products not only represents significant monetary losses and damages for Diageo, but more important, is placing at risk the entire pool of consumers of the different Diageo products that you continue to decode or sell decoded,” the store owners were told.
The removal of product information is in violation of the Netherlands Antilles Labelling Ordinance that makes it mandatory for all products to have vital production and tracking details, Bermon attorney Monique Hofman-Ruigrok said.
Parallel product importer Sunil Gehani told The Daily Herald the claim was just another way of trying to circumvent the High Court’s ruling last year that allowed parallel importation. “We don’t tamper with the products. Some of the boxes don’t have codes on them, but that’s the way we buy them from the United States and Europe,” Gehani said.
Gehani and other sellers of parallel imports have already sought legal advice and said they were willing to wage a court battle of their own to keep their imports on the shelves, a right they claim is afforded them by the free market of St. Maarten and the Netherlands Antilles in general.
