The EC is debating how much to increase the excise tax on alcohol and whether to require cigarette-style health warnings on bottles. It is also likely to force vendors to get licenses in order to sell alcohol.

"Should the EC push through all of its intentions, the new regulations would infringe on basic human rights and freedom," said Jan Vesel˘, executive director of the Czech Union of Breweries and Malt Houses (ČSPAS).

It will announce the changes sometime this fall.

Markos Kyprianou, EC commissioner for health and consumer protection, said he expected a tax hike of 16 percent in the Czech Republic. This would cost local brewers an extra 35.2 million euros ($45 million/990 million Kč) per year.

The current excise duty on Czech beer is determined by the volume and quality of the beer. A half-liter bottle of 10-degree beer carries a 1.20 Kc tax, while a half-liter bottle of 12-degree beer runs an extra 1.44 Kc.

The issue is a sore subject in a country where beer is a source of national pride: Czechs chug down an average of 160 liters of beer annually for every man, woman and child — far and away the world leader.

Czechs pay some 220 million euros in excise duty on beer each year.

Brewers are already campaigning against the expected ruling.

Budvar spokesman Petr Samec said Czech breweries were united in their efforts to stop the EC's plans.

They are not alone. Vesel˘ says they are counting on the support of the more influential German brewers to help fight against the new regulations.

The proposed rules have brewers worried because price hikes could force customers to drink less.

"It could lower consumption here because people's purchasing power is not as big as in some other EU countries," said František Krakeš, general director of the Brno-based brewery Starobrno.

The growth of domestic beer consumption is falling on its own.

"We only keep the high average consumption thanks to the increasing share of foreigners who drink beer in this country," Vesel˘ said.

Brewers say the new regulations would force Czech breweries to increase their market share outside the EU, something they are already doing. Beer exports in the first six months of 2006 increased 17 percent year-on-year to 170 million liters. Consumption increased just 2 percent domestically.

Nearly 40 percent of Czech beer exports go to Germany, followed by Slovakia. Exports to Ukraine, Belgium and Russia are also up.

Krakeš insisted that the EC's intent to reduce alcohol sales to licensed shops is ridiculous.

"This is insane," he said. "In times when other beverages are available in unlimited shopping channels, forcing beer and other alcohol out of most shops would go against the basic principles of free market competition."

The EC should attempt to deal with excessive drinking with therapy rather than increased regulations on brewers, said Marek Hlavica, communications manager for Pilsner Urquell, the nation's largest brewer.

If the EC approves the regulations, it would be up to EU member states to transform them into binding laws.

"That's why we need to start lobbying here first," Vesel˘ said.

The EC bases its reforms on an EC-funded report by the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) released in June.

The report says Europe is the heaviest-drinking region in the world and calls alcohol consumption one of the biggest EU public health problems. Alcohol is responsible for 7.4 percent of all early deaths and causes some 60 different types of diseases and chronic conditions, the report says.

The report also blames alcohol consumption for nearly 60,000 underweight births and more than 100,000 deaths each year.

Finnish challenge

Economic considerations also play into the discussion about new regulations. The report says excessive alcohol consumption costs the EU roughly 125 billion euros annually, equal to 1.3 percent of its gross domestic product.

"The report is wrong and biased," Vesel˘ said, adding that, unlike cigarettes, small amounts of alcohol can be healthy.

He said the anti-alcohol measures being discussed by the EC run counter to the commission's goal.

"Just look at what Prohibition and later other bans on alcohol production and sales did in the United States or Soviet Union in the past," he said. "It only worsened the situation."

Still, he EU looks poised to tackle the alcohol issue this fall. Finland, which took over the EU presidency from Austria in July, even declared the issue a priority for its half-year in control.

"We do, indeed, see alcohol as a major issue," said Pekka Pushka, the director general of the Finnish National Public Health Institute.