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Alcoholic Beverages Labelling: Analysis of the Joint-self Regulatory Proposal of the Industry on Nutrition Labelling and Ingredients’ Declaration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2018

Cesare VARALLO  and
Chiara CRAVETTO
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Type
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Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 329 - 336
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© Cambridge University Press 

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Footnotes

*

Food lawyer and founder of foodlawlatest.com, Torino, Italy.

**

Food lawyer at foodlawlatest.com, PhD in Comparative Law, Torino, Italy.

References

1 “Self-Regulatory proposal from the European alcoholic beverages sectors on the provision of nutrition information and ingredients listing”, 12 March 2018, available at <ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fs_labelling-nutrition_legis_alcohol-self-regulatory-proposal_en.pdf>.

2 Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004, OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p 18.

3 Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, Art 9 – List of mandatory particulars:

“1. In accordance with Articles 10 to 35 and subject to the exceptions contained in this Chapter, indication of the following particulars shall be mandatory:

  1. (a)

    (a) the name of the food;

  2. (b)

    (b) the list of ingredients;

  3. (c)

    (c) any ingredient or processing aid listed in Annex II or derived from a substance or product listed in Annex II causing allergies or intolerances used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and still present in the finished product, even if in an altered form;

  4. (d)

    (d) the quantity of certain ingredients or categories of ingredients;

  5. (e)

    (e) the net quantity of the food;

  6. (f)

    (f) the date of minimum durability or the ‘use by’ date;

  7. (g)

    (g) any special storage conditions and/or conditions of use;

  8. (h)

    (h) the name or business name and address of the food business operator referred to in Article 8(1);

  9. (i)

    (i) the country of origin or place of provenance where provided for in Article 26;

  10. (j)

    (j) instructions for use where it would be difficult to make appropriate use of the food in the absence of such instructions;

  11. (k)

    (k) with respect to beverages containing more than 1,2 % by volume of alcohol, the actual alcoholic strength by volume;

  12. (l)

    (l) a nutrition declaration.”

4 Since Directive 2003/89/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 November 2003 amending Directive 2000/13/EC as regards indication of the ingredients present in foodstuffs, OJ L 308, 25.11.2003, p 15–18; and provided by today’s Art 21, para. 1, second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011: “In the absence of a list of ingredients, the indication of the particulars referred to in point (c) of Article 9(1) shall comprise the word ‘contains’ followed by the name of the substance or product as listed in Annex II”.

5 Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers, COM(2008)0040 final.

6 Alcoholic mixed beverages, like the mix of a soft drink with a spirit.

7 Art 16(4).

8 As it has been observed: “producers’ interests have undoubtedly been responsible for the inexplicable delays (since 1978…) and rejection of the various proposals” (of inclusion of alcohol beverages under the scope of provisions requiring the mandatory labelling of ingredients list and nutritional information), Gonzales Vaqué, L, “Self-Regulation of the labelling of the list of ingredients of alcoholic beverages: a long-term solution?” (2017) 12(5) European Food and Feed Law Review 413–421 Google Scholar.

9 See, for example, “What’s not on the bottle? Eurocare Reflections on Alcohol Labelling”, European Alcohol Policy Alliance (Eurocare), 2014, available at <www.eurocare.org/content/download/17358/95180/version/4/file/What%5C%27s+Not+on+the+Bottle+Eurocare+Reflections+on+Alcohol+Labelling+Sept+2014.pdf> and “Informed food choices for healthier consumers”, The European Consumer Organization’s (BEUC) position on nutrition, available at <www.beuc.eu/publications/beuc-x-2015-008_pca_beuc_position_paper_on_nutrition.pdf>.

10 Art 16(4), second subparagraph, Regulation (EU) 1169/2011: “By 13 December 2014, the Commission shall produce a report concerning the application of Article 18 and Article 30(1) to the products referred to in this paragraph, and addressing whether alcoholic beverages should in future be covered, in particular, by the requirement to provide the information on the energy value, and the reasons justifying possible exemptions, taking into account the need to ensure coherence with other relevant Union policies. In this context, the Commission shall consider the need to propose a definition of ‘alcopops’”.

11 “Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council regarding the mandatory labelling of the list of ingredients and the nutrition declaration of alcoholic beverages”, COM(2017) 58 final, available at <ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fs_labelling-nutrition_legis_alcohol-report_en.pdf>.

12 General Standard for the labelling of pre-packaged foods CODEX STAN 1-1985, last revised in 2010, <www.codexalimentarius.org/download/standards/32/CXS_001e.pdf>.

13 COM(2017) 58 final, p 6.

14 ibid.

15 Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) reference: 2014/611/RO for Romania and Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) reference: 2016/42/IRL for Ireland.

16 COM(2017) 58 final, p 12; see also Gonzales Vaqué, supra, note 8, p 15.

17 Recital 51 of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 states that “food information rules should be able to adapt to a rapidly changing social, economic and technological environment”, and the joint proposal states that the sector wants to “use this opportunity to explore and develop, in addition to product labels, at European Union, national and company level, new approaches for providing consumers with valuable information about the products they consume”.

18 TNS European Behaviour Studies Consortium, Study on the impact of food information on consumers’ decision making (2014), available at <ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/labelling_legislation_study_food-info-vs-cons-decision_2014.pdf> (see also COM(2017) 58 final, p 7).

19 Consumer insights – knowledge of ingredient and nutrition information off-label information and its use – Report GfK Belgium (2014), available at <www.brewersofeurope.org/uploads/mycms-files/documents/publications/2015/GfK%20report%20-%20CONSUMER%20INSIGHTS%20-%20FINAL.pdf>.

20 “What’s in a beer? European brewers’ commitment to listing ingredients and nutrition information”, available at <ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fs_labelling-nutrition_legis_alcohol-self-regulatory-proposal_brewers_en.pdf>.

21 “Spirits sector annex to the self-regulatory proposal from the European alcoholic beverages sectors on the provision of nutrition information and ingredients listing”, available at <ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fs_labelling-nutrition_legis_alcohol-self-regulatory-proposal_annex-spirits-en.pdf>.

22 Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks, OJ L 39, 13.2.2008.

23 “Detailed wine and aromatised wine products annex”, available at <ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fs_labelling-nutrition_legis_alcohol-self-regulatory-proposal_annex-wine-en.pdf>.

24 “European cider and fruit wine association annex”, available at <ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fs_labelling-nutrition_legis_alcohol-self-regulatory-proposal_cider_en.pdf>.

25 COM(2017) 58 final.

26 Gonzales Vaqué, supra, note 8; see also Eckert, S and Héritier, A, “New Modes of Governance in the Shadow of Hierarchy: Self-regulation by Industry in Europe” (2008) 28(1) Journal of Public Policy 113–138 Google Scholar; Eijlander, P, “Possibilities and Constraints in the Use of Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation in Legislative Policy: Experiences in the Netherlands – Lessons to Be Learned for the EU?” (2005) 9(1) European Journal of Comparative Law 28–36 Google Scholar; and Senden, LJ, “Soft Law, Self-regulation and Co-regulation in European Law: Where do they Meet?” (2005) 9(1) Electronic Journal of Comparative Law 1–27 Google Scholar.

27 See the European Consumer Organization’s (BEUC) press statement of 12 March 2018 “Alcohol makers fail to meet consumers’ expectations for on-label information”, available at <www.beuc.eu/publications/beuc-web-2018-009_alcohol_makers_fail_to_meet_consumers_expectations.pdf>.

28 ibid.