After a long gestation, news was received at the end of last year that agreement has been reached to align the spirit drinks legislation with the Lisbon Treaty and to update some of its provisions. spiritsEUROPE welcomes the decision to move forward on this dossier. It appears that the Commission has also decided not to proceed with harmonisation of the rules protecting “geographical indications” in the spirits sector and those for other foodstuffs. This too is good news. Our assessment of the regimes had shown significant differences and harmonisation at the level of foodstuffs would have presented serious difficulties for the spirits sector.
Timeframe for the alignment is hard to predict but it looks as a formal proposal for the new law may emerge in the first half of the year. Both within the EU and in export markets, European producers rely on this law to protect the sector and to maintain the reputation for high quality products sold around the world. It will be critical, therefore, to ensure that the current levels of protection, both for generic spirits and geographical indications, are maintained intact under the new rules.
