Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority

CAFIA is a state administration body subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture. It is a state authority responsible for supervision of safety, quality and labelling of foodstuffs.

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Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic [open in new window]

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CAFIA Control Activities

01/22/2015

The question as to whether it is necessary to indicate the composition on the immediate packaging of alcoholic beverages (either manufactured and marketed in a Member State of the Community or manufactured and marketed in the Czech Republic) is treated by CAFIA as follows:

Article 6, Paragraph 3 of Directive 2000/13/EC provides that "in the case of beverages containing more than 1.2% (by volume) of alcohol, the Council, on a proposal from the Commission of 22 December 1982, implements the following rules for labelling ingredients." At present, our office knows of no valid European legislation which sets out these rules and it is therefore not completely clear how the composition is to be stated in the case of alcoholic beverages containing more than 1.2% (vol.) of alcohol. Decree No. 113/2005 Coll., on the Labelling of Food and Tobacco Products, which is the transposition of this Directive in the Czech Republic, does not deal with this issue.

CAFIA proceeds with its enforcement responsibilities in the labelling and presentation of alcohol as follows:

Alcoholic beverages produced in the Czech Republic and/or alcoholic beverages from third countries which are in free circulation in the Czech Republic - are under the jurisdiction of the currently applicable legislation, namely § 6, Paragraph 1, Point. i) of Act No. 110/1997 Coll. on Foods (information on the composition, including the raw materials used in the food production, additives, flavourings and food supplements) and the corresponding provisions of Decree No. 113/2005 Coll., and also § 6, Section 1, Point k) of the Food Act (information about the possibility of adverse effects on human health). This means that the composition of raw materials used, including allergenic components, must be stated on the packaging of alcoholic beverages.
Alcoholic beverages from another EU Member State, a member state of the European Economic Area or a third country, which are offered for sale in another EU Member State - in such cases, the decisive factor for assessing how the composition of the product is to be stated, is the standard knowledge of the currently valid laws in the country of origin. This means, whether and how the requirement from Article 6, Paragraph 3 of Directive 2000/13/EC was converted into national law and whether the state has implemented its own rules governing the sale of this product. Furthermore, if it is available, the procedure used by the control authority of the country of origin on this issue is taken into account. Otherwise, the provisions of the Directive 2000/13/EC do not include an obligation for producers to state the ingredients of alcoholic beverages. However, in the case of alcoholic beverages, for which information on the composition need not be stated, the consumer must be informed of the presence of allergenic ingredients listed in Annex 1 of Decree No. 113/2005 Coll., because Directive 2003/89/EC expressly provides that the label on beverages must state the presence of allergenic components, if they are contained in such beverages.

CAFIA will utilise this approach to checking the ingredient listing of alcoholic beverages until the forthcoming publication of the regulations from the European Parliament and the Council on the provision of food information to consumers in the Official Journal of the Community.

N.B. Information on the issue of labelling ingredients in wine can be found on our website at this link.