1978R0890 — EN — 01.01.1983 — 003.001 — 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
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/EEC)
1978R0890 — EN — 01.01.1983 — 003.001 — 2
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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 Arti-
cle 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 specify
the products subject to certification, the operations involved and the
information to be given on the various documents which accompanythe said 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 moment
when they are presented for certification until the certificate is issued;
Whereas, for the purposes of determining the quality characteristics
which hops approved for marketing must possess, the moisture contentand 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
hops should be left to the Member States; whereas the methodsadopted must, however, give comparable results; whereas, in case ofdispute, 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 should
be defined and provision made for the appropriate entry on the certifi-
cate;
Whereas, in order to ensure that users have exact information on the
origin and characteristics of products put on the market, common rulesshould be laid down for the marking of packages and the numberingof certificates;
Whereas it should be laid down that hops prepared from hops certified
unprepared may themselves be certified only if preparation is carriedout within a closed operating circuit; whereas, however, if theseoperations take place in certification centres or warehouses the proce-dure for subsequent certification should be simplified;
Whereas the subsequent certification procedure should also be simpli-
fied where the packaging of a product is changed under official super-
vision and without processing;
Whereas the second subparagraph of Article 1 (1) of Regulation
(EEC) No 1784/77 provides that products which are exempt from cer-tification should be subject to a control procedure; whereas this con-trol procedure must ensure both that these products cannot upset thenormal marketing pattern for certified products and that they are suita-
(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 — 01.01.1983 — 003.001 — 3
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ble 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 accor-
dance 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 preli-
minary 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 damagedwhen the package is opened;
(g) ‘closed operating circuit’ means a process for preparing or proces-
sing hops carried out under official supervision and in such a waythat only one entry is available for the original materials and one
exit for prepared or processed products and that no hops or pro-
cessed 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 timefor certification 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 giv-ing:
— 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) No
1696/71 and the minimum marketing requirements set out in Annex Ito this Regulation.
2. Observance of the minimum marketing requirement relative to
the moisture content of the hops shall be checked by one of the meth-ods described in Annex II (B). However, the methods described inAnnex II (B) (2) must be approved by the control body and must giveresults with a standard deviation not exceeding 2·0. In the event of
1978R0890 — EN — 01.01.1983 — 003.001 — 4
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dispute, observance shall be checked by the method described in
Annex II (B) (1).
The Member States shall communicate to the Commission the meth-
ods which 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
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 appropri-ate.
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 author-ity empowered 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.
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 desig-nating, 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 foreach centre. ►
A1In the case of Greece, this information shall be
communicated before the end of the third month following the date of
accession. ◄
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, under▼M1
▼M2
▼B
1978R0890 — EN — 01.01.1983 — 003.001 — 5
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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 aclosed operating 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 declara-
tion referred to in Article 2.
3. In every case a number shall be given to the consignment of ori-
ginal hops before preparation. This number must appear on the certifi-cate 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.
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 officialsupervision.
2. Where a change of packaging as referred to in the preceding
paragraph is carried out without any processing of the product, the
new certification 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
an invoice or a commercial document drawn up by the vendor statingthe number of the certificate and the name of the issuing agency. Theinvoice or commercial document must also bear the following infor-mation, 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 Regula-tion (EEC) No 1784/77 a declaration of the varieties grown,the quantities harvested, the places of production and the areas▼
M1
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1978R0890 — EN — 01.01.1983 — 003.001 — 6
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planted, together with the land register references or an official
equivalent thereof,
— no further checks shall be required where the hops are pro-
cessed or used in their natural state in the brewery itself. In allother cases, 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 packaging
must bear the words ‘isomerized hop extract’, together with parti-
culars 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
are to be used by the brewery itself, the certifying body shall,
when the hops enter the establishment where they are to be pro-cessed, issue a document on which at least the following particu-lars shall be entered in 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 the
package 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 in Article 6 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77. ►A1In the case
of Greece, this information shall be communicated before the end ofthe third month following the date of accession. ◄
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 — 01.01.1983 — 003.001 — 7
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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 classedas stalk, cone strigs must be
at least 2,5 cm long66
(c) Petals Petals detached from the cone Not applicable 20
(d) Hop waste Small particles resulting from
machine harvestings, which
vary in colour between dark
green and black and which
generally do not come from
the cone34
(e) For ‘seedless hops’
SeedMature fruit of the cone 2 2
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ANNEXII
A.SAMPLINGMETHOD
The following procedure shall be used to take samples of hop cones for deter-
mining the moisture content and, where applicable, the extraneous matter con-
tent:
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 sam-
ples should be taken to ensure that there are enough cones to be repre-
sentative 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 suf-
ficiently 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, 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 effi-
cacy 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.
MethodTransfer 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 reg-
isters on a scale the degree of humidity of the sample taken.
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C.METHOD FOR CHECKING THE EXTRANEOUS MATTER CON-
TENT
1.Determinationoftheleafandstalk,bractandwastecontent
Sieve five 100 g 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,
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 colour
and the weight is calculated on the assumption that their density is identi-
cal.
The various groups are weighed and the percentage which each group repre-
sents 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.
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ANNEXIII
CODING AND COMPOSITION SEQUENCE OF CERTIFICATE
REFERENCENUMBERS
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
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)▼A1
▼B
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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.