Beer and wine broadcast advertising could be curbed if the crtc decides to take a new look at broadcast advertising regulations for alcoholic drinks.

Last month, the Federal Court denied a motion from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission called a Consent to Judgment, which was put forward in 1990 as part of a lawsuit by the Association of Canadian Distillers.

The distillers’ suit argues crtc advertising regulations violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Consent to Judgment motion was the crtc’s statement of agreement with the distillers that the distinction the crtc regulations have been making between advertising of beverages with different levels of alcohol could not be justified.

The regulations state any distiller with a product containing more than 7% alcohol cannot do broadcast advertising, including public service announcements, although fortified wine with alcoholic content of more than 7% can be advertised.

In the Consent to Judgment, the crtc said that if the judgment was approved, the federal broadcast regulator intended to hold public hearings to look at strengthening its code on alcohol advertising.