NEW EU RULES FOR SPIRIT DRINKS TO BRING CLEARER LABELLING, BETTER CONSUMER PROTECTION

Philenews/in-cyprus - 28 November 2018 -   Edited by Bouli Hadjioannou

The European Council and the European Parliament have reached political agreement on new rules for the production and labeling of spirit drinks.

The agreement also covers the registration and protection of spirit drinks registered or in the process of being registered as geographical indications such as Zivania, Ouzo, Cognac and Irish Cream.

Attending the conclusive negotiation meeting, EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said he was confident that the new Spirit Drink Regulation, resulting from the negotiations, will provide for a legislative framework that meets the needs of the sector and will continue to support its continuing and substantial growth.

“The modernised rules will also ensure that consumers are accurately informed on the methods used to produce spirit drinks."  He added.

The agreement means that a clearer labelling of spirit drinks will be guaranteed across the EU and that their composition will be harmonised at EU level.

The creation of a register of Member States' control authorities will also facilitate the work of the national enforcement forces to make sure that consumers get the genuine products. Terms of spirit drinks registered as GIs such as Cognac, Irish Cream, Genever or Ouzo will also be better protected against misuse as ingredients and against the registration of similar trademarks.
 
Main features of the regulations:

• the clarification of the production and labelling rules for most categories of spirit drinks, including the definition of maximum sweetening limits for a number of categories at EU level,
• the improvement of the labelling rules that apply in case spirit drinks are combined with other products, including other spirit drinks;
• the creation of a register of the Member States' control authorities;
• the enhanced protection of GIs: when used as ingredients, when in conflict with Trade Marks and also against goods in transit in the EU territory;
• the further simplification of the GIs procedures: Commission scrutiny to focus only on elements of EU significance, clearer definitions of amendments at national and EU level, fully respecting subsidiarity principle, reduction of the time period for treating applications.
• The spirit sector is among the biggest contributors to the agri-food economy in Europe with over one million jobs generated by the production and sales of spirit drinks and €11 billion worth of exports in 2017 all across the globe. 

Background

The current Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 (the Spirit Drinks Regulation) provides for the rules on production and labelling for all spirit drinks produced in and imported to the EU. It also provides for specific rules for the registration and intellectual property protection of spirit drinks GIs, in compliance with WTO obligations.

• On December 1, 2016, the Commission adopted a proposal of alignment to the Lisbon Treaty of Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 and submitted it to the European Parliament and the Council. At that occasion, the Commission also proposed to improve the legal formulation of certain provisions and streamline the system for the registration of geographical indications for spirit drinks (spirit drinks GIs).
• The negotiation process between the Council and the European Parliament started in December 2016 and ended with the agreement.