STATE OF WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON STATE LIQUOR CONTROL BOARD

3000 Pacific Ave SE PO Box 43075 Olympia WA 98504-3075 (360) 664-1600

Liquor Control Board Policy
Subject of policy:			Advertising v. Information for the Purpose of Determining the Extension of Money’s Worth (a Tied House violation)
Effective date:			July 11, 2001
Ending date:			To remain in effect until rule making is completed on the agency’s advertising and Tied House-related rules
Contact information:			Sherry Frederick	360-664-1725	scf@liq.wa.gov
Source of authority:		RCW 66.08.010 Tied House law RCW 66.08.060 Advertising rule making authority RCW 66.08.030 General rule making authority
Approved:
	Eugene Prince, Chairman
	Vera Ing, Board Member
	Katherine Kreiter, Board Member

Purpose statement:

The purpose of this Liquor Control Board (LCB) is to distinguish between “advertising” and “information” for the purposes of determining compliance with the prohibition against the extension of money’s worth between a manufacturer, importer, or distributor and a retailer in RCW 66.28.010 (the “Tied House” law).

Policy statement:

Liquor Control Board Staff will use this Policy until rule making is completed on the agency’s rules regarding advertising and Tied House-related issues. This interim policy will supersede WAC 314-52-090(1).

For the purposes of enforcing the prohibition against the extension of money or money’s worth between a manufacturer, importer, or distributor and a retailer, the LCB will distinguish between “advertising” and the providing of “information.” The LCB will continue to consider advertising as money’s worth, while information will not be considered money’s worth.

To be in compliance with RCW 66.28.010, a manufacturer, importer, or distributor can list information about a retailer, but cannot advertise on behalf of a retailer. Providing information means communicating facts about where a product can be purchased (physical location), without an additional description of the retail premises or an inducement to purchase at the retail premises.

A manufacturer, importer, or distributor’s electronic or hard copy publication or information piece that mentions a retailer must meet the following guidelines for the LCB to consider the item “information” and not “advertising:”

• The piece that lists the retailers must be a response to a direct inquiry from a consumer to the manufacturer, importer, or distributor, received by telephone, by mail, by an electronic inquiry, or in-person.
• The piece must list at least two or more unaffiliated retailers.
• The information listed on the piece may be in text format only (no graphics or images).
• The piece may only list the following information about the two or more unaffiliated retailers: the name of retail premises and the premises’ address, web site, e-mail address, and telephone number.
• The information piece cannot contain other descriptive information about the manufacturer, importer, or distributor’s product(s) or the retailer’s premises. For instance, the piece cannot include product prices, a description of the retail premises’ services, etc.
• The listings for each retailer must be in identical format.
• If web site--A manufacturer, importer, or distributor’s web site cannot include a link to a retail premises’ web site.
• The listing of a retail licensee cannot be the result of an inducement by any party or the result of any financial or barter/trade agreement between a retailer and a manufacturer, importer, or distributor.
• The manufacturer, importer, or distributor must pay all costs for the production of the information piece.

If the manufacturer holds both non-retail and retail privileges on the same premises or at an off-site tasting location as authorized by RCW 66.24.170(4), the manufacturer may provide information about products it produces.