If you deal with alcohol, tobacco or explosives -- or act for someone who does -- and you are trading from Europe into the United States, do make yourself familiar with the content of the website of the US Government's alcohol and tobacco tax and trade bureau, at http://ttb.gov/.  

While this website is helpful for anyone who needs to get a product label authorised for use in the US, this blogger has discovered via its search facility that this website also contains a good deal of information that US users can access with regard to product labelling in the EU and various EU Member States (for example, a search for 'France' yields over 12,000 results). It might be worth taking a systematic look at all this information to see how current, how comprehensive and how accurate it is, since the trading activity of US brand owners in the EU may sometimes be referable to reliance upon it.

Our lead to this website comes via a member of the MARQUES LinkedIn Group, Roland Wilding, who adds that, as he understands it, each state in the US has its own licensing rules. This in turn raises the question whether MARQUES should provide resources or a forum for gathering transatlantic information of this nature, or whether it is too far removed from the organisation's core activities. If you have ideas or suggestions in this regard, please add your comment to the LinkedIn Discussion Group which is currently being set up to talk about this topic.