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 Alcoholic beverages have been exempt from EU labeling rules that are
in force for all other food and drinks.
The European Commission has, however, called on the sector to come
up with a plan to regulate itself amid general interest for
healthier eating and drinking habits.
The European consumers organization BEUC has said that, with Europe
facing an obesity crisis, calorie content labeling for alcohol was a
necessity.
In March 2018, the sector came up with an initiative to provide more
information about energy content and ingredients but critics said at
the time that if much of the information was available only online,
it was not realistic to expect all consumers to have access to it.
Tuesday's initiative goes further.
Trade body SpiritsEUROPE, which represents national organizations
and multinationals, said on Tuesday it had signed an MoU in which
the spirits sector committed "to provide energy information on label
together with full ingredient listing and detailed product-specific
information online".
The non-binding agreement does not cover wine or beer.
The MoU was signed by 31 national organizations and six spirits
makers. The six were Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Moet Hennessy, Remy
Cointreau, Bacardi-Martini and Beam Suntory
Italy's Campari, Brown-Forman and Edrington, all spiritsEUROPE's
members, did not sign the MoU.
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"It's an important commitment, which covers a large part of the
European spirits industry," Christian Porta, President of
spiritsEUROPE and Managing Director, Global Business Development of
Pernod Ricard, told Reuters.
Labeling should become effective within six months in December 2019
for all new bottles produced.
Labels will provide energy values per 100 milliliters, as for
standard drinks, but also per "recommended serving", something the
spirits industry has been keen on because of the smaller measures
used for whisky, gin or vodka.
The MoU has a timetable calling for one in four bottles placed on
the EU market to include energy information on-label by the end of
2020. That is then set to rise to 50% and 66% by the end of 2021 and
2022 respectively.
The signatories will work with the Commission to monitor the impact
and effectiveness of the initial framework, with two meetings
planned per year to review progress made.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, editing by Louise Heavens and David
Evans)
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