Wine can now be banned in offices in France

This article is more than 12 months old

Jul 04, 2014 12:32 am

In France, drinking wine during meals is a way of life.

But on Thursday (July 3), the French government allowed employers to ban wine from the workplace.

Before this, wine and cider had been exempted from the list of alcoholic drinks that employers could ban.

After a decree published in the official government journal on Thursday, wine was added to the list of drinks the government says could “threaten the security and the physical and mental well-being of workers”.

The labour ministry, which is behind the directive, said “alcohol is the biggest psycho-active substance consumed in France”.

Alcohol abuse causes around 49,000 deaths in France annually, according to a study by the Institut Gustave-Roussy, one of the world’s leading cancer research institutes.