1978R0890 — EN — 17.07.1979 — 001.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 890/78
of 28 April 1978
laying down detailed rules for the certification of hops
(OJ L 117, 29.4.1978, p. 43)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1465/79 of 13 July 1979 L177 35 14.7.1979
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 116, 11.5.1979, p. 32 (890/78)
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COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 890/78
of 28 April 1978
laying down detailed rules for the certification of hops
THE COMMISSIONOF THE EUROPEANCOMMUN ITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1696/71 of 26 July
1971 on the common organization of the market in hops(1), as last
amendedbyRegulation(EEC)No1170/77(2),andinparticularArticle
2 (5) thereof,
WhereasCouncilRegulation(EEC)No1784/77of19July1977(3)laid
down general rules for the certification of hops;
Whereas, in order to ensure substantially uniform application of the
certification procedure in the Member States, it is necessary to specifythe products subject to certification, the operations involved and theinformationtobegivenonthevariousdocumentswhichaccompanythesaid products;
Whereas, to enable control to be exercised in respect of hop cones, a
declaration signed by the individual or associated producer shouldaccompany certification; whereas this document should contain infor-mation which makes it possible to identify the hops from the momentwhen they are presented for certification until the certificate is issued;
Whereas, for the purposes of determining the quality characteristics
whichhopsapprovedformarketingmustpossess,themoisturecontentand extraneous matter content must be taken into consideration;whereas, in view of the reputation for quality that Community hopshave acquired, the existing procedures customary in commercial trans-actions should be taken as a basis;
Whereas the choice of method for checking the moisture content of
hopsshouldbelefttotheMemberStates;whereasthemethodsadoptedmust, however, give comparable results; whereas, in case of dispute, itis necessary to use a Community method;
Whereas, in order to take account of current commercial practice in
certain Community regions, hops marketed seeded and seedless shouldbe defined and provision made for the appropriate entry on the certifi-cate;
Whereas, in order to ensure that users have exact information on the
originandcharacteristicsofproductsputonthemarket,commonrulesshouldbelaiddownforthemarkingofpackagesandthenumberingofcertificates;
Whereasitshouldbelaiddownthathopspreparedfromhopscertified
unprepared may themselves be certified only if preparation is carriedoutwithinaclosedoperatingcircuit;whereas,however,iftheseopera-tionstakeplaceincertificationcentresorwarehousestheprocedureforsubsequent certification should be simplified;
Whereas the subsequent certification procedure should also be simpli-
fiedwherethepackagingofaproductischangedunderofficialsupervi-sion and without processing;
WhereasthesecondsubparagraphofArticle1(1)ofRegulation(EEC)
No1784/77providesthatproductswhichareexemptfromcertificationshouldbesubjecttoacontrolprocedure;whereasthiscontrolproceduremustensureboththattheseproductscannotupsetthenormalmarketing
(1) OJ No L 175, 4. 8. 1971, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 137, 3. 6. 1977, p. 7.
(3) OJ No L 200, 8. 8. 1977, p. 1.
1978R0890 — EN — 17.07.1979 — 001.001 — 3
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patternforcertifiedproductsandthattheyaresuitablefortheirdeclared
use and are used only by those to whom they are consigned;
Whereas the operation of this control procedure should be entrusted to
the bodies responsible for certification;
WhereasthemeasuresprovidedforinthisRegulationareinaccordance
with the opinion of the Management Committee for Hops,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
For the purposes of this Regulation:
(a) ‘unpreparedhops'meanshopswhichhaveundergoneonlyprelimi-
nary drying and packaging;
(b) ‘preparedhops'meanshopswhichhaveundergonefinaldryingand
final packaging;
(c) ‘seededhops'meanshopsmarketedwithaseedcontentgreaterthan
2 % of their weight;
(d) ‘seedless hops' means hops marketed with a seed content not
exceeding 2 % of their weight;
(e) ‘isomerized extract of hops'means an extract in which the alpha
acids have been almost totally isomerized;
(f) ‘sealing'means closure of the package under official supervision
andinsuchawaythatthemeansofclosurewillbedamagedwhenthe package is opened;
(g) ‘closed operating circuit' means a process for preparing or
processinghopscarriedoutunderofficialsupervisionandinsuchaway that only one entry is available for the original materials andone exit for prepared or processed products and that no hops orprocessed products can be added or removed during the operation;
(h) ‘consignment' means a number of packages of hops or derived
products with the same characteristics presented at the same timeforcertificationbythesameindividualorassociatedproducerorbythe same processor.
Article 2
1. Every consignment of hop cones presented for certification shall
beaccompaniedbyawrittendeclarationsignedbytheproducergiving:
— the producer’s name and address,
— the harvest year,— the variety,— the place of production,— the land register reference or an official equivalent thereof,— the number of packages in the consignment.
2. This declaration shall accompany the consignment of hops
throughout any processing or mixing operations and in any case untilthe certificate is issued.
Article 3
1. All hop cones submitted for certification shall comply with the
definition laid down in Article 1 (3) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No1696/71andtheminimummarketingrequirementssetoutinAnnexItothis Regulation.
2. Observanceoftheminimummarketingrequirementrelativetothe
moisture content of the hops shall be checked by one of the methodsdescribedinAnnexII(B).However,themethodsdescribedinAnnexII(B)(2)mustbeapprovedbythecontrolbodyandmustgiveresultswitha standard deviation not exceeding 2 ·0. In the event of dispute, obser-
vance shall be checked by the method described in Annex II (B) (1).
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TheMemberStatesshallcommunicatetotheCommissionthemethodswhich they employ.
3. Observance of minimum marketing requirements other than the
moisture content shall be checked in accordance with normal commer-cial practice. However, in the event of any dispute, the methoddescribed in Annex II (C) shall be used.
Article 4
For the purpose of the control methods referred to in Article 3 and
described in Annex II (B) (1) and in Annex II (C), samples shall betaken in the following manner:
(a) Samples shall be taken, in each consignment, from at least one
packageintenand,inanycase,fromatleasttwopackagesinanyone consignment.
(b) The samples shall be taken and treated in accordance with the
method described in Annex II (A).
Article 5
ThecertificatereferredtoinArticle5ofRegulation(EEC)No1784/77
shall bear the words ‘seeded hops'or ‘seedless hops',as appropriate.
▼
M1
Article 5a
ThecertificatereferredtoinArticle5ofRegulation(EEC)No1784/77
shall bear at least one of the following texts, applied by the authorityempowered to carry out certifications:
— Certified product — Regulation (EEC) No 890/78,
— Certificeret produkt — Forordning (EØF) nr. 890/78,— Zertifiziertes Erzeugnis — Verordnung (EWG) Nr. 890/78,— Produit certifié — Règlement (CEE) n
o890/78,
— Prodotto certificato — Regolamento (CEE) n. 890/78,— Gecertificeerd produkt — Verordening (EEG) nr. 890/78.
▼
B
Article 6
1. ThereferencenumberofthecertificateasreferredtoinArticle5
ofRegulation(EEC)No1784/77shallbemadeupofcodesdesignating,in accordance with Annex III, the certification centre, the MemberState, the year of harvesting and the relevant consignment.
2. This number shall be the same for all the packages in any one
consignment.
3. Before 1 September 1978, the Member States shall communicate
to the Commission a list of the certification centres and the code foreach centre.
The list of these centres and their code numbers shall be published in
theOfficial Journal of the European Communities . An up-to-date list
shall be published annually.
Article 7
The marking referred to in Article 1 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No
1784/77 shall be carried out in accordance with Annex IV, undersupervision and after sealing, on the unit of packaging in which theproduct is to be marketed.
Article 8
1. Prepared hops produced from hops which were certified unpre-
paredmaynotbecertifiedunlesspreparationtookplacewithinaclosedoperating circuit.
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2. If the hops are prepared in the certification centre or warehouse:
(a) the certificate shall not be issued until after preparation;
(b) the original unprepared hops shall be accompanied by the declara-
tion referred to in Article 2.
3. In every case a number shall be given to the consignment of
original hops before preparation. This number must appear on thecertificate issued for the prepared hops.
4. Inordertobecertified,productspreparedfromhopsasreferredto
in Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77 must be manufacturedwithin a closed operating circuit.
Article 9
1. While they are in circulation, hop powders and hop extracts may
notundergoachangeofpackagingwithinthemeaningofArticle1(5)of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77, unless this is done under officialsupervision.
2. Where a change of packaging as referred to in the preceding
paragraphiscarriedoutwithoutanyprocessingoftheproduct,thenewcertification procedure shall comprise only:
— the marking of the new packaging,
— the entry on the original certificate of this marking and the change
of packaging.
▼
M1
Article 9a
In the case of resale within the Community’s territory, after a certified
consignmenthasbeensplitup,theproductmustbeaccompaniedbyaninvoice or a commercial document drawn up by the vendor stating thenumber of the certificate and the name of the issuing agency. Theinvoiceorcommercialdocumentmustalsobearthefollowinginforma-tion, taken from the certificate:
(a) for hops in cones:
— the designation of the product,
— the gross and/or net weight,— the place of production,— the year of harvest,— the variety;
(b) for hop products, the information given above together with the
place and date of processing.
▼
B
Article 10
TheproductsreferredtoinArticle1(1)(a)to(d)ofRegulation(EEC)
No 1784/77 shall be subject to the following checks:
(a) Inthecaseofhopsharvestedonlandownedbyabrewerandused
by him in the natural or processed state:
— inrespectofeachcropthebrewershallbefore1Novembersend
to the control body referred to in Article 1 (6) of Regulation(EEC) No 1784/77 a declaration of the varieties grown, thequantities harvested, the places of production and the areasplanted,togetherwiththelandregisterreferencesoranofficialequivalent thereof,
— nofurtherchecksshallberequiredwherethehopsareprocessed
or used in their natural state in the brewery itself. In all othercases,thecheckshallbethesameasdescribedunder(c)below,with the exception of point 5.
(b) In the case of isomerized hop extracts, the processor shall each
year, not later than 31 December, declare to the control body thequantities produced and the quantities marketed. The packaging
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mustbearthewords‘isomerizedhopextract',togetherwithparticu-lars of the weight or volume.
(c) In the case of products derived from hops and processed under
contract on behalf of a brewery, and provided that these productsaretobeusedbythebreweryitself,thecertifyingbodyshall,whenthe hops enter the establishment where they are to be processed,issueadocumentonwhichatleastthefollowingparticularsshallbeentered in the course of the processing operations:
1. a reference identifying the contract,2. the recipient brewery,3. the processing establishment,4. a description of the processed product,5. the reference number of the certificate or the attestation of
equivalence of the original hops,
6. the weight of the processed product.
This document shall be given a reference number, which must also
appear on the packaging.
(d) In the case of hops and hop products put up in small packages for
sale to private individuals for their own use, the weight of thepackage may not exceed:
—►
M1one kilogram ◄in the case of cones or powder,
—►M1300 grams ◄in the case of extract.
Adescriptionoftheproductanditsweightmustappearonthepackage.
Article 11
Before1September1978,theMemberStatesshallcommunicatetothe
Commission a list of the zones or regions of production referred to inArticle 6 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77.
Article 12
This Regulation shall apply with effect from 1 August 1978.
ThisRegulationshallbebindinginitsentiretyanddirectlyapplicablein
all Member States.
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ANNEXI
MINIMUM MARKETING REQUIREMENTS FOR HOP CONES
Maximumcontent(%of
weight)
Characteristics Description
PreparedhopsUnprepared
hops
(a) Moisture Water content 12 14
(b) Leavesandstalks ►C1Leaffragmentsfromstem,stemleafor
cone stalk, to be classed as stalk, cone stalksmust be at least 2. 5 cm long ◄6 6
(c) Petals Petals detached from the cone notapplic-
able15
(d) Hopwaste Small particles resulting from machine
harvestings, which vary in colour betweendark green and black and which generally donot come from the cone3 4
(e)For‘seedlesshops'
SeedMature fruit of the cone 2 2
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ANNEXII
A.SAMPLING METHOD
The following procedure shall be used to take samples of hop cones for deter-
mining the moisture content and, where applicable, the extraneous mattercontent:
1.Sampling
(a)Packed hops
A weight of hops proportional to the weight of the package shall be
taken from the number of packages specified in Article 4. Enoughsamples should be taken to ensure that there are enough cones to berepresentative of the package.
(b)Hops in a loose pile
Takeequalportionsfrom5to10differentplacesinthepilebothatthe
surface and at various depths. Place sample in the container as soon aspossible. To avoid rapid deterioration, the quantity of hops must besufficiently large to be highly compressed when the container is closed.
The sample must weigh at least 100 g.
2.Mixture
The samples must be carefully mixed to be representative of the consign-
ment.
3.Sub-sampling
After mixing take one or more representative samples and place them in a
waterproof,airtightcontainersuchasametalboxorglassjar,exceptwhereonly the extraneous matter content is to be checked.
4. Exceptduringtransport,samplesmustbestoredinacoldplace.Careshould
be taken to allow the samples to return to room temperature inside thecontainer before opening for examination or analysis.
B.METHOD FOR CHECKING THE MOISTURE CONTENT OF HOPS
1.Method (i)
Samplesformoisturecontentshouldnotbeground.Itisimportantthatthey
should be exposed to the air only for the minimum time necessary for theirtransfer from the container to the weighing vessel (which must have a lid).
ApparatusBalance sensitive to 0 ·005 g.
Drying oven electrically heated and thermostated to 105 to 107 °C (the
efficacy of the oven should be checked by the copper sulphate test).
Metaldishes70to100mmindiameter,20to30mmdeepandprovidedwith
well-fitting lids.
Ordinarydesiccator,suitableforaccommodatingthedishesandcontaininga
desiccant such as indicator silica gel.
MethodTransfer3to5gofhopstoadishandclosethelidbeforeweighing.Weigh
asquicklyaspossible.Removethelidandplacethedishintheovenforonehourexactly.Replacethelid,placethedishinadesiccatortocoolforatleast20 minutes and then weigh the dish.
CalculationCalculate the loss of weight as a percentage of the original weight of hops.
The maximum deviation for individual estimation is 1 %.
2.Method (ii)
Method using either an electronic weighing machine which dries the hops
with infra-red rays or hot air, or an electric measuring apparatus, whichregisters on a scale the degree of humidity of the sample taken.
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C.METHOD FOR CHECKING THE EXTRANEOUS MATTER
CONTENT
1.Determination of the leaf and stalk, bract and waste content
Sievefive100gsamplesusin ga2mmsieve.Collectthelupulin,wasteand
seedsandseparatetheseedsbyhand.Placethesamplesononeside.Transferthe contents of the 2 mm sieve to a 10 mm sieve and sieve again.
The hop cones, leaves, stalks and extraneous matter are collected by hand
from the sieve while cone leaves, seeds, lupulin waste and some leaves andstalkspassthrough.Allthisissortedbyhandanddividedintothefollowinggroups:
1. Leaves and stalks,2. Hops (cone leaves, hop cones and lupulin),3. Waste,4. Seeds,5. Bracts, in the case of unprepared hops.
The waste and the lupulin cannot be separated. The relative percentage of
each must therefore be estimated by an objective assessment of the colourandtheweightiscalculatedontheassumptionthattheirdensityisidentical.
Thevariousgroupsareweighedandthepercentagewhicheachgrouprepre-
sents in the weight of the original sample is determined.
2.Determination of the seed content
Place the 25 g sample in a metal container with a lid and heat in a drying
oven for two hours at 115 °C in order to neutralize the sticky resin.
Wrap the dried sample in coarse cotton cloth and rub vigorously or beat
mechanically in order to detach the seeds from the hops. Separate the driedand finely fragmented hops from the seeds with a grinder o ra1m mmetal
sieve.
Separate any items remaining with the seeds using either a sloping surface
coveredwithemerypaperoranyothermethodwhichgivesthesameresult,i.e. retains the stems and other matter and permits the seeds to roll off.
Weightheseedsanddeterminethepercentageofseedsrelativetotheweight
of the original sample.
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ANNEXIII
CODINGANDCOMPOSITIONSEQUENCEOFCERTIFICATEREFER-
ENCE NUMBERS
1.Certification centre
A number between 0 and 100 communicated by the Member States.
2.Member States carrying out certification
B for Belgium
D for Federal Republic of GermanyDK for DenmarkF for FranceIRL for IrelandITA for ItalyLUX for LuxembourgNL for NetherlandsUK for United Kingdom
3.Year of harvesting
The last two figures of the year of harvesting.
4.Identification of the consignment
The number given to the consignment by the certifying body (e.g. 12 B 77
170225)
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ANNEXIV
MARKING OF PACKAGES
The marking shall depend on the type of package:
(a) Hop cones put up in bales or ballots:
— printing on the package.
(b) Hop powder in packets:
— printing on the packet.
(c) Hop powder or hop extract in metal tins:
— printing on the box or stamping into the metal.
(d) A sealed package containing a consignment of packets or boxes of powder
or extract:
— printing on the sealed package.