Brussels, 8 December 2023 – The new rules requesting wines and aromatised wine products to communicate the list of ingredients and the nutrition declaration and authorising the use of electronic means to do so, start applying today. The European Committee of Wine Companies (Comité Vins – CEEV) which has been extremely supportive of this new legislation regrets the last-minute uncertainty and concerns generated by the different interpretations of the new rules.
“Wine companies were supportive and fully committed to adapt their labels to the new regulation as soon as possible and did their best to prepare themselves on time. Unfortunately, today’s celebration is tainted with uncertainty on how to label our wines to comply with the new requirement related to the identification of the electronic means, and what to do with the millions of labels already printed” explained Mauricio González Gordon, President of CEEV. “The uncertainty is particularly acute for sparkling wines, which, because of their method of production, will be almost immediately concerned by the new legislation” added CEEV President.
On the one hand, in good faith and in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2021/2117 and with all official information available, a large majority of wine operators decided to identify the QR-codes with the ISO 2760 symbol and not only changed their artwork but also printed hundreds of millions of labels. On the other hand, we face different and contradictory interpretations from the Commission, Member States and the European Parliament, while legal advice commissioned by wine economic operators also raises legitimate questions.
These diverse and contradictory interpretations create confusion and uncertainty for wine operators and puts the EU Single Market for wine at risk.
“In this uncertain context, we request the European Commission, Member States and the European Parliament to work together to agree on a shared and harmonized interpretation on the identification of the QR-code” said Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, Secretary General of CEEV. “While this work is in progress, we request the suspension of the interpretation in the Commission guidelines of how the QR-code needs to be identified on the label, and that labels with a QR code can be used without being challenged by control authorities.” he added.
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NOTE TO EDITORS
- Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV – www.ceev.eu) represents the wine companies in the industry and trade in the European Union: still wines, aromatised wines, sparkling wines, liqueur wines and other vine products. It brings together 25 national organisations and its members produce and market the vast majority of quality European wines, with and without a geographical indication, and account for over 90% of European wine exports.
- Media contact: Dr Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, CEEV Secretary General, ceev@ceev.eu, Mobile: +32 (0)476 88 36 75