When Regulation 1169/2011 was adopted, it was decided to temporarily exempt alcoholic beverages from the scope of regulation until the Commission conducted an assessment. While fully a part of the food sector, it was acknowledged that alcoholic beverages require a marginally different treatment to other foods when labelling energy and ingredients.
In its report published in March 2017, the Commission invited the sectors to “respond to consumers’ expectations and present within a year of adoption of this report a self-regulatory proposal [on ingredients and nutrition information] that would cover the entire sector of alcoholic beverages”.
After 12 months of intense discussions between seven European federations, a common voluntary commitment, with detailed implementation plans presented in four sector annexes, was presented on 12 March 2018 to the Health Commissioner, Vytenis Andruikaitis (Joint Press Release 12 March 2018).
This proposal consists of a common umbrella voluntary commitment, with implementation plans laid out in each sector’s annex.
1) spiritsEUROPE committed to ensure that, by the end of 2022, information on the nutrition and ingredients of all spirits sold in the EU is made available to consumers (online and/or offline).
Online by 2022 means consumers will receive information from the bottle by clicking the barcode with their smartphone. They will be able to get the information anywhere, at any time, in any European language.
2) Large producers (representing 50% of the market in value in the EU) and several member associations in spiritsEUROPE are ready to roll out the labeling scheme (i.e., energy information on pack per serving size & 100ml) after a common understanding on it has been reached with the European Commission. This was achieved on 4 June 2019 in Paris when spiritsEUROPE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in which the sector committed to provide energy information on label together with full ingredient listing and detailed product-specific information online. The signature ceremony took place in the presence of EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis.
Very quickly. The plan to provide energy values on label and comprehensive ingredients information online is highly dynamic and ambitious: the collective total EU market share (by volume) of products placed on the EU market providing energy information on-label and list of ingredients online will amount to 25% by the end of 2020. In other words, one in four bottles placed on the EU market can be expected to provide such information – a share that is set to rise continuously to one in every two bottles (50%) and two in every three bottles (66%) by the end of 2021 and 2022 respectively.
REPORTING
Interim report published in October 2019 presents the first interim progress report in line with the reporting commitments made. It is part of a series of regular updates that will be provided until the end of the implementation period of the MoU (31 December 2022).
A first report published on 5 May 2021 shows that Europe’s producers of spirit drinks have successfully delivered on a 1st milestone commitment to provide a growing share of spirits sold in the EU with energy information on the label. According to a Progress Report, the sector succeeded in ensuring that, by 31 December 2020, around 1 in 4 bottles already featured such information, a share that is set to rise to 50% and 66% by the end of 2021 and 2022 respectively. In parallel, the sector also reported rapid progress in developing bespoke digital consumer information tools.
2nd implementation report published on 18 May 2022 shows that During Phase II (1 January – 31 December 2021), Europe’s spirits sector has continued to deliver successfully on the commitments made in 2019 with regards to the provision of nutrition information and ingredient listing of spirits drinks sold in the EU. By the end of Phase II, an estimated 50% of all hl of spirit drinks released on the market in the 31 countries analyzed (EU-27 plus UK, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland) included on-label energy information. (Click here for the MoU with the list of signatories updated 18 May 2022)
3rd report published on 28 June 2023
Europe's spirits producers have achieved a significant milestone by successfully delivering on their commitment to providing energy information on labels for a constantly growing share of spirits sold in the EU. According to a Progress Report released today by spiritsEUROPE, the trade association for the sector, around 66% of total volumes of spirits put on the EU market are now released in SKUs/bottles featuring energy information on-pack. This share is expected to grow further over time. The sector has also made rapid progress in developing and rolling digital consumer information solutions.
4th Report published on 18 June 2024
Throughout 2023, the share of bottles with on-pack energy information has steadily increased and we estimate that by the end of the year, on average, more than 70% of the total volumes of spirits placed on the EU market will have on-pack energy information. The MoU is still going strong! In 2023, more and more small and medium-sized producers have started to implement the MoU on their products and two national spirits associations have added their signature to our self-regulatory sector approach.
The eight international companies that signed the MoU reported an even higher average share of labels with energy information at 83% (reaching up to 100% in some cases and more than 70% in most cases). An above-average share was also observed in duty-free (travel retail) shops in EU airports.
In addition, labels with digital consumer information – typically provided through QR codes – are increasingly being introduced to the market in line with product development, innovation and renovation. Since the launch of U-label in September 2022, nearly 40.000 e-labels have been created and activated and nearly 900 companies have registered with U-label. Some companies have already covered 100% of their portfolios with digital consumer information – others have ambitious roll-out plans so in their case it is predicted that more than 75% of the total volume of their production placed on the market will have e-labels by 2025.
