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
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/601of 14 December 2023laying 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 controlsTHE 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 1234/2007OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2013/1308/oj., 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point (c), and Article 91, first paragraph, points (b), (d) and (g), thereof,Whereas:(1)Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 repealed and replaced Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation) (OJ L 299, 16.11.2007, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2007/1234/oj).. 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 1850/2006Commission Regulation (EC) No 1850/2006 of 14 December 2006 laying down detailed rules for the certification of hops and hop products (OJ L 355, 15.12.2006, p. 72, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2006/1850/oj)., which is repealed by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/602Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/602 of 14 December 2023 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the marketing standards in the hop sector and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 1850/2006 (OJ L, 2024/602, 16.2.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/602/oj).. 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) 2017/1183Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1183 of 20 April 2017 on supplementing Regulations (EU) No 1307/2013 and (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the notifications to the Commission of information and documents (OJ L 171, 4.7.2017, p. 100, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2017/1183/oj). and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 of 20 April 2017 laying down rules for the application of Regulations (EU) No 1307/2013 and (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards notifications to the Commission of information and documents and amending and repealing several Commission Regulations (OJ L 171, 4.7.2017, p. 113, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2017/1185/oj)..(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: