1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COMMISSIONREGULATION(EEC)No890/78
of28April1978
layingdowndetailedrulesforthecertification ofhops
(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 L 177 35 14.7.1979
►M2Commission regulation (EEC) No 3479/80 of 30 December 1980 L 363 83 31.12.1980
►M3Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1979/83 of 18 July 1983 L 195 34 19.7.1983
►M4Commission regulation (EEC) No 2600/85 of 16 September 1985 L 248 9 17.9.1985
►M5Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3589/85 of 17 December 1985 L 343 19 20.12.1985
►M6Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3994/88 of 21 December 1988 L 354 24 22.12.1988
►M7Commission Regulation (EEC) No 921/89 of 10 April 1989 L 97 40 11.4.1989
►M8Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2265/91 of 26 July 1991 L 208 22 30.7.1991
Amended by:
►A1Act of Accession of Greece L 291 17 19.11.1979
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 116, 11.5.1979, p. 32 (890/78)
▼B
COMMISSIONREGULATION(EEC)No890/78
of28April1978
layingdowndetailedrulesforthecertification ofhops
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
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 amended
by Regulation (EEC) No 1170/77(2), and in particular Article 2 (5)
thereof,
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77 of 19 July 1977(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 theinformation to be given on the various documents which accompany the
said products;
Whereas, to enable control to be exercised in respect of hop cones, a
declaration signed by the individual or associated producer should
accompany certification; whereas this document should containinformation which makes it possible to identify the hops from themoment when they are presented for certification until the certificate isissued;
Whereas, for the purposes of determining the quality characteristics
which hops approved for marketing must possess, the moisture content
and 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 commercialtransactions should be taken as a basis;
Whereas the choice of method for checking the moisture content of hops
should be left to the Member States; whereas the methods adopted must,
however, give comparable results; whereas, in case of dispute, it is
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 thecertificate;
Whereas, in order to ensure that users have exact information on the
origin and characteristics of products put on the market, common rules
should be laid down for the marking of packages and the numbering of
certificates;
Whereas it should be laid down that hops prepared from hops certified
unprepared may themselves be certified only if preparation is carried outwithin a closed operating circuit; whereas, however, if these operationstake place in certification centres or warehouses the procedure for
subsequent certification should be simplified;
Whereas the subsequent certification procedure should also be
simplified where the packaging of a product is changed under officialsupervision and without processing;
Whereas the second subparagraph of Article 1 (1) of Regulation (EEC)
No 1784/77 provides that products which are exempt from certificationshould be subject to acontrol procedure; wherea s this control proceduremust ensure both that these products cannot upset the normal marketing1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 2
(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.
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pattern for certified products and that they are suitable for their declared
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;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance
with the opinion of the Management Committee for Hops,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
For the purposes of this Regulation:
(a) ‘unprepared hops’ means hops which have undergone only
preliminary drying and packaging;
(b) ‘prepared hops’ means hops which have undergone final drying and
final packaging;
(c) ‘seeded hops’ means hops marketed with a seed content greater than
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
and in such a way that the means of closure will be damaged when
the package is opened;
(g) ‘closed operating circuit’ means a process for preparing or
processing hops carried out under official supervision and in sucha way that no hops or processed products can be added or removedduring the operation. The closed operating circuit starts with the
opening of the sealed package containing the hops or hop product to
be prepared or processed and it ends with the sealing of the packagecontaining the prepared hops or hop product;
(h) ‘consignment’ means a number of packages of hops or derived
products with the same characteristics presented at the same time forcertification by the same individual or associated producer or by the
same processor.
Article 2
1. Every consignment of hop cones presented for certification shall
be accompanied by a written declaration signed by the producer giving:
— 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 until
the 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) No 1696/71
and the minimum marketing requirements set out in Annex I to this
Regulation.
2. Observance of the minimum marketing requirement relative to the
moisture content of the hops shall be checked by one of the methodsdescribed in Annex II (B). However, the methods described in Annex II1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 3
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(B) (2) must be approved by the control body and must give results with
a standard deviation not exceeding 2·0. In the event of dispute,observance shall be checked by the method described in Annex II (B)
(1).
The Member States shall communicate to the Commission the methods
which they employ.
3. Observance of minimum marketing requirements other than the
moisture content shall be checked in accordance with normalcommercial 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 be
taken in the following manner:
(a) Samples shall be taken, in each consignment, from at least one
package in ten and, in any case, from at least two packages in anyone consignment.
(b) The samples shall be taken and treated in accordance with the
method described in Annex II (A).
Article 5
The certificate referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77
shall bear the words ‘seeded hops’ or ‘seedless hops’, as appropriate.
Article 5a
The certificate referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77
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,
—Πιστοποιηµένο προϊόν
Κανονισµός (ΕΟΚ) αριθ. 890 /78,
— Producto certificado — Reglamento (CEE) n
o890/78,
— Producto certificado — Regulamento (CEE) no890/78.
Article 6
1. The reference number of the certificate as referred to in Article 5
of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77 shall be made up of codes designating,in accordance with Annex III, the certification centre, the Member State,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 for
each centre. ►
A1In the case of Greece, ►M5Spain and Portugal ◄,
this information shall be communicated before the end of the thirdmonth following the date of accession. ◄
The list of these centres and their code numbers shall be published in the
Official Journal of the European Communities . An up-to-date list shall
be published annually.1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 4
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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, under supervision
and after sealing, on the unit of packaging in which the product is to be
marketed.
Article 8
1. Prepared hops produced from hops which were certified unpre-
pared may not be certified unless preparation took place within a closedoperating circuit.
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
declaration 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. In order to be certified, products prepared from hops as referred to
in Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77 must be manufacturedwithin aclosed opera ting circuit.
5. With the exception of the substances as set out in Annex V to this
Regulation, only certified hops and hop products may enter the closedoperating circuit. They may enter solely in the state in which they havebeen certified.
6. If, in case of the production of extracts manufactured by the use of
carbon dioxide processing in the closed operating circuit must beinterrupted due to technical requirements, the representatives of theofficial bodies or departments authorized to carry out certification withinthe meaning of Article 1 (6) of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77 shall sealthe package containing the intermediate product at the point of
interruption. The seal may be removed only under the supervision of
the abovementioned officials at the point where processing is beingresumed.
Article 8a
1. In the case of the production of hop products, officials as referred
to in Article 8 (6) shall be present at all times when processing is taking
place. They shall supervise the processing at every stage, i.e. from the
opening of the sealed package containing the hops or hop product to beprocessed through to the completion of packing, sealing and labelling ofthe hop product. A temporary absence is permissible, as long as it can beassured by technical means that the provisions of this Regulation arerespected.
2. Before changing to a different batch in a processing system the
representatives referred to in Article 8 (6) shall ensure by inspection thatthe processing system is empty, at least to the extent necessary to ensurethe elements of two different batches cannot be mixed. If hops, hopproducts, spent hops or any other product derived from hops remain inparts of the processing system such as blending or canning containers
while hops of another batch is being processed, these parts have to be
disconnected from the processing system by suitable technical meansand under official supervision. They may be re-connected to theprocessing system under official supervision, only. A physical linkbetween the processing line for concentrated hop powder and that for
non-concentrated hop powder shall not be allowed while either is
operating.
3. The operators of hop-processing plants shall provide the
representatives referred to in Article 8 (6) as well as the representativesof the official national bodies responsible for ensuring compliance withthe certification system within the meaning of Article 1 (6) of1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 5
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Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77 with all information related to the
technical layout of the processing plant.
4. The operators of hop-processing plants shall keep exact records
concerning the mass throughput of hops processed. For each batch of
hops to be processed records shall be drawn up which contain detailes of
the weights of the input product and the processed product as well asthat of the waste, including spent hops, non-hop materials rejected andthe presumed moisture loss. As far as the input product is concerned therecords shall furthermore contain the number as referred to in Article 5(1) (b) of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77 for all hop consignments
involved and the variety of the hops. If more than one variety is used in
the same batch the respective shares of their weights must appear in therecords. As regards the processed product the variety must also appear inthe records, or, if the processed product is ablend, the composition byvarieties. All weights may be rounded off to the nearest kilogram.
5. Records of the mass throughput shall be made under the
supervision of the representatives referred to in Article 8 (6) and signed
by them as soon as the processing of a batch has been completed. They
shall be kept by the operator of a processing plant for at least threeyears.
6. Representatives of the official bodies responsible for ensuring
compliance with the certification system shall carry out sample checkson the premises of the hop processing plants, regularly and without priornotice. These checks shall consist of an examination of: the work of
representatives referred in Article 8 (6); the incontestability of the
certified products, the certificates accompanying the hops, as well as therecorded mass throughput as referred to in paragraph 4 above. Thenumber of checks to be carried out during a year shall not be less thanfive per hop-processing plant.
7. The Member States shall report to the Commission, every year
before 30 June, the frequency, type and result of the supervisory
measures in respect of certification which were carried out over the year
preceding the said date.
8. If it is found that in the preparation of hop products components
have been used which are not permitted, or that the components used donot conform to the information in the certificate as listed in Article 5 ofRegulation (EEC) No 1784/77, and if this is imputable to deliberateaction or serous fault on the part of the plant operator or his servants, the
Member State in question shall withdraw approval as a certification
centre from this processing plant. Approval may not be restored for aperiod of at least 12 months following the date of withdrawal. Onrequest of the operator, approval shall be restored after two years or, ingrave cases, after three years from the date of withdrawal, at the lastest.
Article 9
1. While they are in circulation, hop powders and hop extracts may
not undergo a change of packaging within the meaning of Article 1 (5)
of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77, unless this is done under official
supervision.
2. Where a change of packaging as referred to in the preceding
paragraph is carried out without any processing of the product, the newcertification procedure shall comprise only:
— the marking of the new packaging,
— the entry on the original certificate of this marking and the change of
packaging.
Article 9a
In the case of resale within the Community's territory, after a certified
consignment has been split up, the product must be accompanied by aninvoice or a commercial document drawn up by the vendor stating thenumber of the certificate and the name of the issuing agency. The1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 6
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invoice or commercial document must also bear the following
information, 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.
Article 10
The products referred to in Article 1 (1) (a) to (d) of Regulation (EEC)
No 1784/77 shall be subject to the following checks:
(a) In the case of hops harvested on land owned by a brewer and used
by him in the natural or processed state:
— in respect of each crop the brewer shall before 1 November send
to the control body referred to in Article 1 (6) of Regulation
(EEC) No 1784/77 a declaration of the varieties grown, the
quantities harvested, the places of production and the areasplanted, together with the land register references or an officialequivalent thereof,
— no further checks shall be required where the hops are processed
or used in their natural state in the brewery itself. In all othercases, the check shall be the same as described under (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 packagingmust bear the words ‘isomerized hop extract’, together with
particulars 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 products areto be used by the brewery itself, the certifying body shall, when the
hops enter the establishment where they are to be processed, issue a
document on which at least the following particulars shall be enteredin the course of the processing operations:
1. areference identifying the contra ct,
2. the recipient brewery,
3. the processing establishment,
4. adescription 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.
A description of the product and its weight must appear on the
package.
Article 11
Before 1 September 1978, the Member States shall communicate to the
Commission alist of the zones or regions of production referred to inArticle 6 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77. ►
A1In the case of1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 7
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Greece, ►M5Spain and Portugal ◄, this information shall be
communicated before the end of the third month following the date ofaccession. ◄
Article 12
This Regulation shall apply with effect from 1 August 1978.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States.1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 8
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ANNEXI
MINIMUMMARKETINGREQUIREMENTSFORHOPCONES
Characteristics DescriptionMaximum content
(% of weight)
Prepared hops Non-prepared hops
(a) Moisture Water content 12 14
(b) Leaves and stalks Leaf fragments from branch
tendrils, branch tendrils, leaf
or cone strigs; to be classed asstalk, cone strigs must be at
least 2,5 cm long66
(c) Hop waste Small particles resulting from
machine harvesting, varying in
colour between dark green and
black and ►
M6which gener-
ally do not come from the
cone; the maximum contents
indicated may include particles
of varieties of hops other than
those to be certified,
amounting to up to 2 % of
the weight ◄34
(d) In the case of ‘seed-
less hops’, seedMature fruit of the cone 2 21978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 9
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ANNEXII
A.SAMPLINGMETHOD
The following procedure shall be used to take samples of hop cones for
determining the moisture content and, where applicable, the extraneous matter
content:
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. Enough samples
should be taken to ensure that there are enough cones to be representative
of the package.
(b)Hops in a loose pile
Take equal portions from 5 to 10 different places in the pile both at the
surface and at various depths. Place sample in the container as soon as
possible. To avoid rapid deterioration, the quantity of hops must be
sufficiently 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 consignment.
3.Sub-sampling
After mixing take one or more representative samples and place them in a
waterproof, airtight container such as a metal box or glass jar, except where
only the extraneous matter content is to be checked.
4. Except during transport, samples must be stored in a cold place. Care should
be taken to allow the samples to return to room temperature inside the
container before opening for examination or analysis.
B.METHODFORCHECKINGTHEMOISTURECONTENTOFHOPS
1.Method(i)
Samples for moisture content should not be ground. It is important that they
should be exposed to the air only for the minimum time necessary for their
transfer 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 ºC (the
efficacy of the oven should be checked by the copper sulphate test).
Metal dishes 70 to 100 mm in diameter, 20 to 30 mm deep and provided with
well-fitting lids.
Ordinary desiccator, suitable for accommodating the dishes and containing a
desiccant such as indicator silica gel.
Method
Transfer 3 to 5 g of hops to a dish and close the lid before weighing. Weigh as
quickly as possible. Remove the lid and place the dish in the oven for one hour
exactly. Replace the lid, place the dish in a desiccator to cool for at least 20
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, which registers on
a scale the degree of humidity of the sample taken.1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 10
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C.METHOD FOR CHECKING THE EXTRANEOUS MATTER
CONTENT
1.Determinationoftheleaf,stalkandwastecontent
Sieve five 100 gram samples using a 2 mm sieve. Collect the lupulin, waste
and seeds and separate the seeds by hand. Place the samples on one side.
Transfer the 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 and stalks
pass through. All this is sorted by hand and divided into the following groups:
1. Leaves and stalks,
2. Hops (cone leaves, hop cones and lupulin),3. Waste,4. Seeds.
It is extremely difficult to separate the waste and the lupulin precisely.
However, it is possible, using asieve with amesh size of 0,8 millimetres, to
determine approximately the relative proportions of the waste and the lupulin.
When estimating the proportion of lupulin, it should be taken into account that
the density of the lupulin is four times greater than that of the waste.
The various groups are weighed and the percentage which each group
represents in the weight of the original sample is determined.
2.Determinationoftheseedcontent
Place the 25 g sample in a metal container with a lid and heat in a drying oven
for two hours at 115 ºC 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 dried
and finely fragmented hops from the seeds with a grinder or a 1 mm metal
sieve.
Separate any items remaining with the seeds using either a sloping surface
covered with emery paper or any other method which gives the same result,
i.e. retains the stems and other matter and permits the seeds to roll off.
Weigh the seeds and determine the percentage of seeds relative to the weight
of the original sample.1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 11
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ANNEXIII
CODINGANDCOMPOSITIONSEQUENCEOFCERTIFICATEREFER-
ENCENUMBERS
1.Certification centre
A number between 0 and 100 communicated by the Member States.
2.Member Statescarrying outcertification
B for Belgium
D for Federal Republic of Germany
DK for Denmark
E for GreeceF for France
IRL for Ireland
ITA for Italy
LUX for Luxembourg
NL for Netherlands
UK for United Kingdom
ESP for Spain
P for Portugal
3.Yearofharvesting
The last two figures of the year of harvesting.
4.Identificationoftheconsignment
The number given to the consignment by the certifying body (e.g. 12 B 77
170225)1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 12
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ANNEXIV
MARKINGOFPACKAGES
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 ►M7and on each packet or box of
powder or extract in the sealed package ◄.1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 13
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ANNEXV
Substances permitted in the standardization of hop extracts:
1. glucose syrups;
2. hot water extract prepared from hops.1978R0890 — EN — 01.09.1991 — 008.001 — 14