GS1 in Europe hosted a webinar aimed at helping the industry prepare for complying with (self-)regulation regarding the disclosure of ingredients, nutrition, and allergens in alcoholic beverages. The webinar provided valuable insights on how businesses can effectively inform consumers and ensure compliance in this area. The webinar agenda consisted of the following topics::

• Inform the industry on the upcoming (self) regulation for wines & spirits
• Inform what data needs to be exchanged in order to inform the Alcoholic Beverages value chain throughout Europe
• Inform how companies can use GS1 standards (identifiers) and solutions (GS1 Digital Link) for sharing their data
• Inform on current solutions that are offered by GS1 Member Organisations and solution providers
• Create a European platform of collaboration for the alcoholic beverages sector

These topics were covered during the webinar to provide valuable insights and foster collaboration within the industry.

This event has been made possible thanks to the presence of individuals from various countries!

• We have representatives from 48 different countries in attendance.
• We have received 268 registrations from industry professionals.
• Associations and solutions providers have contributed with 67 registrations.
• GS1 Member Organisations have shown strong support with 239 registrations.

This high participation underscores the significance of this event and the collective effort to drive collaboration and progress within the industry.

If you want to watch or re-watch the session click on the video!

To download the presentation click here

Below are the questions submitted during the webinar, along with the answers provided by our team of specialists.

FAQ

Do all these wine regulations apply to other alcohols too ie Spirits, Beers etc?

No. Only applies to wines and aromatised wine products. For spirits there is the self-regulation. The beer producers / beers sector are printing the information on the label.

Is it possible to get translations of all eu languages ​​with the gs1 standard, e.g. allogeneic? Because each EU country's gs1 organization has its own translations. The need would be to get the information centrally.

We will provide in English. It will be up to the MOs to provide in their own language.

What about "Champagne": is champagne considered as wine? or is out of the regulation?

Yes. Champagne is a specific sparkling wine and it is covered by the regulation.

Is the Energy information mandatory for spirits? Moreover, wines produced before 8/12/2023 are obliged to labelling?

The spirits sector works with a self-regulation. Energy information is in scope here. At this moment wines produced and labelled after 8/12/2023 are obliged to the follow the regulation and inform consumers on the ingredients, nutrition and allergens. There is still debate around the definition (produced or labelled).

When we have a very limited labelling surface on the bottle of a spirit drink, so there is no place to take a QR code on it, is there any solution to use the barcode to link the webpage?

With limited place on the label we would recommend replacing the barcode with the QR code powered by GS1 Digital Link. This QR code can be scanned at the point-of-sale and can redirect to the required information of the alcoholic beverage.

On what time laps does GS1 think that EAN code will be swapped for QR code in Retail (on all products)? Is current QR code for E-Label (wine) compatible with cashier systems that can already scan them?

It is not the EAN (or better the GTIN) that will be swapped for the QR code. It is the (linear) barcode that will be swapped for a QR code. There is a transition time planned till 2027.

What tolerances should be used for alcohol when calculating the energy value? Same as in case of sugar content?

There are rules in wine regulation for the tolerance for alcohol.

The information must be communicated at the GTIN or GTIN+Batch number level for Wine and spirits?

The information must be communicated on GTIN level. The GTIN management rules must be followed (for when to create a new GTIN).

Does "marketing free" mean that you would not use the QR code/DL to give the consumers recipes?

This is the case only for wine but the rule about this is still unclear. We hope EC will understand that we can’t put multiple symbols for multiple purposes on a single label.

I would like to create a special dot « alc » for this information. What do CEEV and Spirit Europe think about this? Like: www.gtin-number.alc for example. This dot alc must be short and dedicate to nutritional info for alcoholic beverages

This is not a preferred option. By using GS1 Digital Link and the Product Information Page (PIP link type) you can already share the information on ingredients, nutrition and allergens and still use the same QR symbol at the point-of-sale.

What is the advantage of using serial number on digital link? What is the adoption on that level by retailers and brands?

Unique ID might be used for taxes purposes, life cycle of products made unique. Adoption rates here are not known at the moment

If for a specific product the recipe has some modifications over the years related e.g. to the ingredients, will that be modified to the same GTIN or it will require a new GTIN ?

Each GTIN defines a specific kind of product, a specific list of ingredients. This way the EC, using only the GTIN, should be pleased to access the correct list of ingredients related to.