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125.54
(3) Hearing fees. The department may, by rule, establish and collect
6from persons holding a permit issued under this section annual fees in amounts
7necessary to reimburse the department for expenses incurred under s. 227.43 (3) (f)
8and (4) (f).
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10125.72 Relationships between wholesalers and suppliers of
11intoxicating liquor. (1e) Legislative findings. The legislature finds that the
123-tier system for distributing intoxicating liquor to the public has existed in
13Wisconsin for over 60 years and continues to be necessary to promote the public
14health, safety and welfare; that the 3-tier system was established, among other
15reasons, to prevent suppliers from controlling pricing and distribution in a manner
16that harms the interests of the citizens of this state; that a stable and healthy middle
17tier of the 3-tier system, the wholesaler, is integral to the 3-tier system because the
18middle tier prevents supplier control of pricing and distribution and provides an
19efficient and effective means of tax collection; that significant consolidation of
20market power has occurred at the supplier level; that the number of wholesalers in
21this state has declined significantly between 1979 and 1999, increasing the risk of
22supplier control of pricing and distribution of intoxicating liquor; and that this
23section is necessary to maintain a stable and healthy middle tier. The legislature
24further finds that relationships between intoxicating liquor wholesalers and
1suppliers have been subject to state regulation since the enactment of the 21st
2Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that the parties to those relationships
3expect changes in state legislation regarding those relationships.
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4(1m) Applicability. (a) The effect of this section may not be varied by contract
5or agreement. Any contract or agreement purporting to do so is void and
6unenforceable to that extent only. Provisions of a relationship that prevent a
7wholesaler, through choice of law or forum provisions, from bringing an action or
8filing a notice of contest in this state under this section are void and unenforceable
9to that extent only.
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(b) This section applies to all relationships, regardless of when the
11relationships were entered into, except that this section does not apply to a
12relationship in which the volume of the business done by a wholesaler with a supplier
13and the supplier's affiliates does not exceed 5% of the wholesaler's total business
14volume.
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15(1s) Definitions. In this section:
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(a) "Altered product" means an existing product that is all of the following:
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1. Altered by age, by alcohol content, by blend mixture, by flavor or in some
18other way.
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2. Principally identified by a trademark, trade name, logotype or other
20commercial symbol used to identify an existing product.
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(am) "Existing product" means intoxicating liquor that is distributed in the
22United States before or on the effective date of this paragraph .... [revisor inserts
23date].
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(ar) "Geographic area" means the area in which a wholesaler is both authorized
25to sell intoxicating liquor under a relationship and has sold intoxicating liquor.
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1(b) "Good cause" means any of the following:
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1. Failure by a wholesaler to comply substantially with essential and
3reasonable requirements imposed upon the wholesaler by the supplier, or sought to
4be imposed by the supplier, which requirements are not discriminatory as compared
5with requirements imposed on other similarly situated wholesalers either by their
6terms or in the manner of their enforcement.
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2. Bad faith by the wholesaler in carrying out the terms of the relationship.
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(c) "Goodwill" includes use of a trademark, trade name, logotype or other
9commercial symbol, and use of a variation of a trademark, trade name, logotype,
10advertisement or other commercial symbol.
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(cm) "Intoxicating liquor" has the meaning given in s. 125.02 (8), but does not
12include wine.
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(d) "New product" means intoxicating liquor that is all of the following:
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1. First distributed in the United States after the effective date of this
15subdivision .... [revisor inserts date].
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2. Not an altered product.
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(e) "Relationship" means a written or oral contract or agreement, express or
18implied, between a supplier and a wholesaler that grants the wholesaler the right
19to purchase intoxicating liquor from the supplier for resale in this state.
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(f) "Supplier" means any person, other than a wholesaler, who sells intoxicating
21liquor to a wholesaler.
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(g) "Transferee" means a person who acquires any asset or activity of a
23supplier's business and who uses the goodwill associated with the supplier's goods.
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24(2) Change of relationship. (a) A supplier may not do any of the following:
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11. Terminate, cancel, fail to renew or substantially change a relationship
2without good cause. The supplier bears the burden of proving good cause and that
3the change is not substantial.
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2. Substantially change the competitive circumstances of a wholesaler's
5business without good cause. The supplier bears the burden of proving good cause
6and that the change is not substantial.
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3. Appoint more than one wholesaler to resell an existing product in a
8geographic area in which there was only one wholesaler reselling that existing
9product in that geographic area in the 12 months preceding the effective date of this
10subdivision .... [revisor inserts date].
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4. Except as provided in par. (b), refuse to sell an altered product or new product
12to a wholesaler who has entered into a relationship with the supplier.
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(b) A supplier who has relationships with more than one wholesaler in the same
14geographic area shall offer an altered product only to a wholesaler who previously
15resold the existing product principally identified by the same trademark, trade
16name, logotype or other commercial symbol used to identify the altered product.
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(c) A change in the ownership or management of a wholesaler or of a
18wholesaler's business is not good cause if the changed ownership or management
19meets the supplier's reasonable and material qualifications for wholesaler
20applicants in effect at the time of the change.