Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/601 of 14 December 2023 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the certification of hops and hop products and related controls

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007 (1), and in particular Article 90a(6), first subparagraph, point (c), and Article 91, first paragraph, points (b), (d) and (g), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 repealed and replaced Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 (2). Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 lays down rules on marketing standards for hops and the certification of hops and empowers the Commission to adopt delegated and implementing acts in that respect. In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the application of marketing standards and the certification for hops and hop products in the new legal framework, certain rules have to be adopted by means of implementing acts. Those acts should replace the relevant implementing provisions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1850/2006 (3), which is repealed by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/602 (4). References to the repealed Regulation should be read in accordance with Annex II to that Delegated Regulation, which provides for a correlation table.

(2) Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 provides that products of the hops sector harvested or prepared within the Union are to be subject to a certification procedure which guarantees that they meet minimum quality requirements. In order to ensure a uniform application of the certification procedure in the Member States, it is necessary to specify when and where the certification procedure should take place and who should bear the cost of it, as well as what constitutes proof of certification. Rules should also be put in place for cases where the packaging of hops or hop products is changed after certification.

(3) In order to ensure traceability, hop should be marketed in sealed packages, which should bear markings concerning the description of the product, the variety, the harvest year and the unique reference number of the consignment, which must be identical to the reference number of the certificate issued in accordance with Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 for the consignment in question.

(4) Rules for establishing reference numbers should be laid down to allow the identification and ensure traceability of each consignment. To ensure this, the reference number should contain information about the Member State of certification, the certification centre who issued the certificate, the harvest year and the unique reference number attributed to the consignment. Apart from their unique reference number, certificates for hops and hop products should contain a minimum list of characteristics describing the product. To ensure the traceability of hop products, the reference numbers of the certificates for the input products and in case of a blend of input products, the percentages of hops of each variety and/or hop growing region used, expressed in hop cone equivalent, should also be listed on the certificate of the final product.

(5) To ensure traceability of hops as from the harvest stage, each consignment of unprepared hops should be given an identification number, which should appear on the certificate issued for the prepared hops. It should be specified that certified unprepared hops may only be turned into hop products in a closed operation circuit and that no other additives than hot water extract prepared from hops and glucose syrups for the standardisation of hop extracts may be used in this process.

(6) Given that the alpha acid content of hops is naturally decreasing over time, a deadline for the certification of hop cones should be set, giving Member States the possibility to set an earlier date. A written harvest declaration should be drawn up and signed by the producer for each consignment of unprepared hops presented for certification.

(7) Rules should be laid down concerning the methods for taking samples and for checking compliance with the minimum marketing requirements for hop cones laid down in Annex I to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/602.

(8) To ensure the high quality of hop products, rules should be laid down to ensure that only certified inputs can be used for their production. This can be achieved either by the presence of representatives of the competent certification authority or by the technical layout of the processing plant.

(9) As far as hop-processing plants are concerned, they should provide the competent certification authority with all information related to the technical layout of the processing plant and the measures put in place to ensure that in the case of hop powder, hop powder with higher lupulin content, extract of hops and mixed hop products, the alpha acid content of those products is not lower than that of the hops from which they have been prepared. Rules for the records to be kept by processing plants for each batch of hop product should be established to allow traceability of each input product to the final hop products.

(10) To ensure the good functioning of the certification of hop products, Member States should appoint competent certification authorities responsible for carrying out the necessary controls and establishing manuals of procedures with a view to guarantee a minimum quality and full traceability of the certified hops and hop products. The competent certification authority should approve certification centres that can carry out certification of hops and/or hop products, allocating a code number to each of them which will be part of the unique reference number of each certificate they issue.

(11) Minimum requirements for approved certification centres, as well as a minimum frequency for their control through on the spot checks carried out by the competent certification authority should be established.

(12) The high quality and good reputation of products of the hops sector is due to the traceability of the certified products from unprepared hops to the final hop product. Therefore it is important that the certification authority is authorized to withdraw the approval of a certification centre in case of incorrect entries into a certificate issued by them or a neglect of the notification obligations towards the certification authority. Approval should be withdrawn for at least 12 months and only be re-established on request by the applicant if the certification authority is satisfied with the remedial action taken.

(13) To ensure full traceability, the information concerning the certificates issued for hops and hop products needs to be centralised at national level. To minimise the administrative burden, the Member States should be allowed to lay down the form and manner in which that information shall be notified to them.

(14) In order to facilitate the communication of information from the Member States to the Commission on all relevant aspects of the certification system for products of the hops sector, rules should be laid down concerning the content, timing, frequency and deadlines of the notifications as regards this scheme. For the proper management of the hops sector, it is appropriate to provide that all notifications from the Member States to the Commission required in accordance with this Regulation should be made in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1183 (5) and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 (6).

(15) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the Common Organisation of the Agricultural Markets,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

SECTION 1

INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS

Article 1

Definitions

The definitions provided for in Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/602 shall apply to this Regulation.

SECTION 2

CERTIFICATION OF HOPS AND HOP PRODUCTS

Article 2

Certification procedure

Article 3

Marking and sealing

(a) the description of the product including the mention ‘prepared hops’ or ‘unprepared hops’, as the case may be;

(b) the variety or varieties;

(c) the year of harvest;

(d) the unique reference number of the certificate issued in accordance with Article 4.

These markings shall appear in legible, indelible characters of uniform size.

Article 4

Certificate

(a) the description of the product including the mentions ‘seeded hops’ or ‘seedless hops’, as appropriate, and ‘prepared hops’ or ‘unprepared hops’, as the case may be;

(b) the unique reference number of the certificate for the consignment;

(c) the net and/or gross weight of the consignment;

(d) the hop production area;

(e) the variety;

(f) the mention ‘seeded hops’ or ‘seedless hops’, as appropriate;

(g) the year of harvest;

(h) the entry listed in Annex III in at least one of the official languages of the Union.

In the case of hops from experimental strains, the entries referred to in the first subparagraph, point (e), may be replaced by a name or number identifying the strain in question.

(a) the description of the product;

(b) the unique reference number of the certificate of the consignment;

(c) the net and/or gross weight of the consignment;

(d) the unique reference number of the certificate(s) of the hops used;

(e) the variety or varieties of the hops used;

(f) the production area(s) of the hops used;

(g) the year of harvest;

(h) the place and date of processing;

(i) the entry listed in Annex III in at least one of the official languages of the Union.

Article 5

Common certification requirements for hops and hop products

SECTION 3

ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR HOPS

Article 6

Unprepared hops presented for certification

(a) the producer’s name and address;

(b) the place of production;

(c) the variety;

(d) the year of harvest;

(e) the parcel reference in the land register or an official equivalent thereof;

(f) the number of packages in the consignment.

Article 7

Verification of the minimum quality criteria of unprepared hops

However, in the event of a dispute concerning the extraneous matter content, the method described in section C of Annex IV shall be used.

SECTION 4

ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR HOP PRODUCTS

Article 8

Safeguards during the production of hop products