1978R0890 — EN — 01.08.1978 — 000.001 — 1
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►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)
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 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 thesaid 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
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 methods adoptedmust, 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
origin and characteristics of products put on the market, common rulesshould be laid down for the marking of packages and the numbering ofcertificates;
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 these opera-tions take place in certification centres or warehouses the procedure forsubsequent certification should be simplified;
Whereas the subsequent certification procedure should also be simpli-
fied where the packaging of a product is changed under official supervi-sion 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 a control procedure; whereas this control proceduremust ensure both that these products cannot upset the normal marketing
(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 prelimi-
nary 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 whenthe package is opened;
(g) ‘closed operating circuit' means a process for preparing or
processing hops carried out under official supervision and in such away 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 timefor certification by the same individual or associated producer or bythe 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 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) No1696/71 and the minimum marketing requirements set out in Annex I tothis 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 II(B) (2) must be approved by the control body and must give results witha 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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The Member States shall communicate to the Commission the methodswhich 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 5of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77
shall bear the words ‘seeded hops' or ‘seedless hops', as appropriate.
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 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-
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 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. In order to be certified, products prepared from hops as referred to
in Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 1784/77 must be manufacturedwithin a closed operating circuit.
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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 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 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, thequantities 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 particu-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 productsare to be used by the brewery itself, the certifying body shall, whenthe hops enter the establishment where they are to be processed,issue a document on which at least the following particulars shall beentered 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:
— 500 grams in the case of cones or powder,
— 150 grams in the case of extract.
A description of the product and its weight must appear on the
package.
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Article 11
Before 1 September 1978, the Member States shall communicate to the
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.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States.
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ANNEXI
MINIMUM MARKETING REQUIREMENTS FOR HOP CONES
Maximum content (% of
weight)
Characteristics Description
Prepared hopsUnprepared
hops
(a) Moisture Water content 12 14
(b) Leaves and stalks ►C1Leaf fragments from stem, stem leaf or cone
stalk, to be classed as stalk, cone stalks must be atleast 2. 5cm long ◄6 6
(c) Petals Petals detached from the cone not applicable 15
(d) Hop waste Small particles resulting from machine harvestings,
which vary in colour between dark green and blackand which generally do not come from the cone3 4
(e)For ‘seedless hops'
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
Take equal portions from 5to 10 different places in the pile both at the
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, airtight container such as a metal box or glass jar, except whereonly 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 thecontainer before opening for examination or analysis.
B.METHOD FOR CHECKING THE MOISTURE CONTENT OF HOPS
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 theirtransfer from the container to the weighing vessel (which must have a lid).
ApparatusBalance sensitive to 0 ·005g.
Drying oven electrically heated and thermostated to 105to 107 °C (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.
MethodTransfer 3 to 5g 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 onehour exactly. Replace the lid, place the dish in a desiccator to cool for at least20 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
Sieve five 100 g samples usin ga2m m sieve. Collect the lupulin, waste and
seeds and separate the seeds by hand. Place the samples on one side. 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 andstalks pass through. All this is sorted by hand and divided into the followinggroups:
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 colourand the weight is calculated on the assumption that their density is identical.
The various groups are weighed and the percentage which each group repre-
sents in the weight of the original sample is determined.
2.Determination of the seed content
Place the 25g 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 m 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
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.