COMMISSION NOTICE
Following the amendment of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33, there is a document with questions and answers on the implementation of the new EU wine labelling provisions released by the Commission. Here we will share some of those questions. Please for the full document go to the link.
(2) How should the new compulsory information be presented on the label?
[...] in the same field of vision of the container as other compulsory particulars, be simultaneously legible without having to turn the container, in indelible characters and must be clearly distinguishable from surrounding text or graphics.
Where all compulsory information is presented on the package or the attached label, the compulsory particulars to appear in the same field of vision are, thus, the following: (i) the designation of the category of grapevine product (including if relevant the term ‘de-alcoholised’ / ‘partially de-alcoholised’) with the exception provided for in Article 119(2) of the CMO Regulation for certain wines with a protected denomination of origin or protected geographical indication; (ii) the term ‘protected designation of origin’ (PDO) or ‘protected geographical indication’ (PGI), and its name, for wines with a PDO/PGI; (iii) the actual alcoholic strength by volume; (iv) the indication of provenance; (v) the name of the bottler or, for certain product categories (4, 5, 6, 7), the name of the producer or vendor, as relevant; (vi) the net content; vii) the sugar content in case of sparkling wine categories (4, 5, 6, 7); (viii) the nutrition declaration; (ix) the list of ingredients; (x) the minimum date of durability for grapevine products which have undergone a de-alcoholisation treatment.
Where the nutrition declaration and/or the list of ingredients are provided by electronic means, the link (QR code or similar) to the nutrition declaration and/or list of ingredients must be presented on the label in the same field of vision as the other compulsory particulars.
Where the full nutrition declaration is provided by electronic means, the energy value to be displayed on the package or on the label must be presented in the same field of vision as the other compulsory particulars.
Where the full list of ingredients is provided by electronic means, the substances causing allergies or intolerances must be presented on the package or on the label, but not necessarily in the same field of vision as other compulsory information (the derogation of Article 40(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 applies).
The derogation for certain compulsory particulars to appear outside the same field of vision laid down in Article 40(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 applies also to the indication of the importer, the lot number, and the date of minimum durability (in case of de-alcoholised wines).
(3) At the date of application of the new labelling provisions, which wines in which stage of marketing must show nutrition declaration and list of ingredients? E.g. wine in tank/keg/ barrels or only bottled wine?
As a general rule, these new compulsory particulars must apply to wines placed on the market from the respective date of application laid down in Regulation (EU) 2021/2117, i.e., 8 December 2023. However, wines ‘produced’ before that date may continue to be placed on the market following the labelling requirements applicable before 8 December 2023, until stocks are exhausted.
[...] The responsibility of the operators in the supply chain regarding labelling and presentation, is clarified by Article 8 of the FIC and in particular paragraph 7.
(4) When can a wine be considered as produced?
[...] a grapevine product is considered ‘produced’ when it achieves the characteristics and requirements as set out in Part II of Annex VII of the CMO Regulation for the wine category concerned, including through the implementation, when relevant, of authorised oenological practices based on the rules laid down in Article 80 and Annex VIII of that Regulation.
As an example, ‘Wine’ (category 1) means the product obtained exclusively from the total or partial alcoholic fermentation of fresh grapes, whether or not crushed, or of grape must. In addition, wine must have achieved the required alcoholic strength and acidity content, as set out in point (1) of Part II of Annex VII of the CMO Regulation.
In the case of a ‘sparkling wine’ (category 4), when produced through second alcoholic fermentation, it can only be considered as ‘produced’ after the second fermentation has taken place, and the product has achieved its alcoholic strength and excess pressure conditions as set out in Part II of Annex VII of the CMO Regulation. The simple vinification of the base wines or the preparation of the cuvée before 8 December 2023 would not justify an exemption from nutritional labelling.
(5) How would the labelling rules be verified, in particular concerning the ‘produced’?
The enforcement of wine labelling rules rests within the competence of the Member States’ authorities.
All domestic or imported wines placed on the EU market after 8 December 2023 must, in principle, meet the new labelling requirements. However, wine produced before 8 December 2023 (for ‘produced’ see Question 4) may continue to be placed on the market in line with the labelling requirements applicable before that date until stocks are exhausted. As regards imported wines, wines imported before this date are considered as produced before and therefore eligible to this exemption.
List of Ingredients
(6) What form should the list of ingredients have?
[...] The list shall display the ingredients in descending order of weight, as recorded at the time of their use in the manufacture of the food. The ingredients constituting less than 2 % of the finished product may be listed in a different order after the other ingredients.
(7) How to name the additives and processing aids used in wine production? Should the additives be presented together with their technological function?
In accordance with Part C of Annex VII of the FIC Regulation, the designation of additives in the list of ingredients must be done by the name of their functional category, followed by their specific name or, if appropriate, the E Number. The provisions on wine labelling do not establish any further presentation requirements in this respect.
Table 2 of Part A of Annex I of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934 identifies the full list of additives and processing aids that can be used in wine production, groups them into the relevant functional categories (Acidity regulators, Preservatives/Antioxidants, Stabilizing agents, etc.), and provides the terms to be used to name the functional categories and the substances to be listed in the list of ingredients, which are to be presented by using the names specified (column 1) or, alternatively, the E numbers of the additives (column 2).
Article 48a(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 provides for the option to indicate additives under the categories ‘acidity regulators’ and ‘stabilising agents’ that are similar or mutually substitutable by using the expression ‘contains… and/or’, followed by no more than three additives, where at least one of them is present in the final product.
(8) Are only allergenic additives and processing aids to be indicated in the list of ingredients?
[...] the list of ingredients must contain all additives and the processing aids causing allergies or intolerances used in the production of the labelled wine and still present in the finished product.
(12) Should the substances used for enrichment be indicated in the list of ingredients?
Yes, the substances used for enrichment are considered as ingredients within the meaning of Article 2(2)(f) of the FIC Regulation insofar as they are added during the manufacture and present in the final product, even if in an altered form, and therefore should be indicated in the list of ingredients.
(13) How to mention sugar for enrichment in the list of ingredients?
Authorised enrichment processes and substances are described in Part I of Annex VIII of the CMO Regulation. In accordance with the rules defined for the list of ingredients for grapevine products in Article 48a(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/33, concentrated grape must and rectified concentrated grape must can be each replaced by the term ‘concentrated grape must’ or they can be grouped together and appear in the list of ingredients as ‘concentrated grape must’ only. Sucrose, the other substance allowed for enrichment, must be listed separately. Part B of Annex VII of the FIC Regulation allows for ‘all types of sucrose’ to be designated by the name ‘sugar’’, though that designation is not compulsory.
(14) Do yeasts have to be listed as ingredients?
Yeasts used for wine production do not have to be listed as ingredients. [...] The only yeast compound that must be mentioned in the list of ingredients is yeast mannoprotein [...].
(18) How should the main ingredient of a wine be indicated on the label? According to the definition, wine is made from whole or crushed grapes or grape must. Grape must is a natural intermediate product made directly from grapes. In which situations, therefore, should must be indicated as an ingredient and in which situations should grapes be indicated as an ingredient?
As it follows from Article 48a(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33, the indication of the raw materials that constitute ‘the main ingredient’ of wine can be done by listing exactly whether grapes, crushed grapes and/or grape must have been used, or by replacing them all by the single term ‘grapes’. The provision offers a possible simplification to operators, that they can apply on a voluntary basis.
Nutrition Declaration
(19) What is the form to present the nutrition declaration? Should it be a table, or are there other possible forms?
[...] When the nutrition declaration is provided by electronic means the nutrition declaration should be presented always in tabular format with the numbers aligned, as space limitations would not apply.
The order of presentation of the different elements of the nutrition declaration is defined in Annex XV of the FIC Regulation. For the compulsory elements, this order would be: Energy, Fat (of which saturates, …); Carbohydrate (of which sugars, …); Protein, Salt. Or, in tabular format.
[...]Article 119 of the amended CMO Regulation explicitly allows to express the energy value by using the symbol ‘E’ followed by the value.
(20) The FIC Regulation foresees – besides the energy value – the declaration of the amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein, and salt. If there is no content in wine (e.g. for fat or saturated fat) has the content to be shown by ‘0’ or is there simply no need to show fat on the label?
Article 34(5) of the FIC Regulation provides for that in the cases where the energy value or the amount of nutrient(s) in a product is negligible, the information on those elements may be replaced by a statement such as ‘Contains negligible amounts of …’ indicated in close proximity to the nutrition declaration.
(22) How are the values of the different nutrition elements fixed? Is an analysis for every wine and every harvest necessary or can values also be calculated (e.g. for calories via the alcohol content and the residual sugar)?
[...] In particular, in accordance with Article 31 (calculation), the values in the nutrition declaration are average values, based on: a) the manufacturer’s analysis of the food; b) the known or actual average values of the ingredients used; or c) generally established and accepted data.
The energy value must be calculated using the conversion factors provided for in Annex XIV of the FIC Regulation and indicated in kilojoules (kJ) and kilocalories (kcal), indicating the kilojoules in the first place and kilocalories in the second place, as provided for in Annex XV of that Regulation.
Energy values and nutrition values must be indicated per 100 g or per 100 ml (Article 32(2) of the FIC Regulation).
(23) Due to the nature of wine production, individual batches may differ from one another. What is the tolerance limit for the difference between the information on the label and the actual energy and nutrient content of the wine?
The tolerances for the nutrition declaration of wine are the same as defined in the FIC Regulation, which indicates that the energy value and the amount of nutrients should be labelled as the ‘average value’ that is defined as the value that best represents the amount of the nutrient, which a given food contains, and reflects allowances for natural variability of foodstuffs, seasonal variability, patterns of consumption and other factors, which may cause the actual value to vary (see point 13 of Annex I of the FIC Regulation).
The Commission services issued a Guidance document (7) for Member States’ competent authorities with regard to the setting of tolerances for nutrient values declared on a label. The Commission services also issued a summary table (8) which gives an overview of the different tolerance values included in the guidance document.
The Guidance document states that food business operators should act in good faith to ensure a high degree of accuracy of the nutrition declaration. In particular, declared values should approximate to the average values across multiple batches and should not be established at either extreme of a defined tolerance range.
For the indication of the alcohol content, however, the rules on tolerance in Article 44 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 apply.
(25) What size should the characters have?
The general rules on presentation of compulsory particulars of grapevine products referred to in Article 119 of the CMO Regulation are defined in Article 40 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33. In accordance with Article 40(3), the size of the characters of such compulsory particulars, including the characters used to present the nutrition declaration and the list of ingredients, must be equal to or greater than 1,2 mm, regardless of the character format used.
Electronic Labelling
(28) Can a QR code be added as an additional ‘sticker’, besides the original bottle label, or has it to be part of the producers’ original label?
The Commission notice on questions and answers on the application of FIC Regulation (9), section 2.2, provides that ‘labels must not be easily removable so as to jeopardise the availability or the accessibility of the mandatory food information to the consumer’.
In addition, the provision by electronic means of the detailed information relevant to the list of ingredients and the nutritional declaration does not exempt the relevant information from the obligation to be presented in accordance with the EU legislation, irrespective of whether the QR code would be a sticker or not. In particular, it must be ensured that, in line with Article 40(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33, the information relevant to the list of ingredients and the nutrition declaration, which are compulsory particulars (Article 119 of the amended CMO Regulation), appears in the same field of vision as the other compulsory particulars and is simultaneously legible without having to turn the container, is presented in indelible characters and clearly distinguishable from surrounding text or graphics.
(30) Is it possible to link, via a QR Code or similar, the ‘electronic label’ presenting the full nutrition declaration and list of ingredients to the homepage of the producer as a part of its website?
No. Article 119(5) of the amended CMO Regulation, provides that the information on the full nutritional declaration and list of ingredients shall not be displayed with other information intended for sales or marketing purposes, and that no user data shall be collected or tracked. [...]
(37) Would the inclusion on the label of a link to a winery’s e-commerce website considered a marketing purpose?
The inclusion of an e-commerce website or a winery website is undoubtedly considered as ‘marketing purpose’.
(40) Does the consumer have the right to access the QR code landing page for an extended period? Will the Commission make a recommendation regarding how long the QR code should be available after the sale of the wine?
Article 12 of the FIC regulation requires that mandatory food information must be available, and it must be easily accessible for all foods. The compulsory information provided by electronic means (e.g. a QR code) should remain accessible in a way equivalent to the one of the information provided on a physical label, i.e., it should be available at least along the time period that specific category of wine product is expected to remain suitable for consumption in normal condition of storage, to ensure consumers’ access to the mandatory information at any moment along the expected lifetime of the product. In this respect, the presence and accuracy of the information is the responsibility of the business operator responsible for the food information, in accordance with Article 8(2) of the FIC Regulation. In addition, food business operators are responsible for any changes they make to food information accompanying a food pursuant to Article 8(4) of the FIC Regulation.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this article is a collection of the most frequently asked questions regarding the EU Regulation 2021/2117 on wine labeling. These FAQs are sourced from official documentation. For the complete list of questions and answers, please visit the official EU Regulation FAQs.
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