REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercice of power to adopt delegated acts pursuant to Article 46(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks, the use of the names of spirit drinks in the presentation and labelling of other foodstuffs, the protection of geographical indications for spirit drinks, the use of ethyl alcohol and distillates of agricultural origin in alcoholic beverages, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 110/2008
Date: 2025-05-28
Institutions: Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, alcoholic beverage, beverage industry, consumer information, ethanol, labelling, market supervision, marketing standard, powers of the institutions (EU), product designation

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 28.5.2025  COM(2025) 261 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercice of power to adopt delegated acts pursuant to Article 46(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks, the use of the names of spirit drinks in the presentation and labelling of other foodstuffs, the protection of geographical indications for spirit drinks, the use of ethyl alcohol and distillates of agricultural origin in alcoholic beverages, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 110/2008  
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation  (EU)  2019/787  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council1  establishes  a 
common legal framework for spirit drinks produced in the Union. In particular, it provides 
rules on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks and for their 
control and supervision. 

That  Regulation  empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt  delegated  acts  supplementing  or 
amending  some of those rules and – for certain among them – imposes on the Commission 
an  obligation  to  report  to  the  co-legislators  on  the  exercise  of  the  delegated  powers  it 
contains. 

In  accordance  with  Article  46(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2019/787,  the  Commission  was 
conferred on the power to adopt delegated acts for a period of seven years, starting from 24 
May 2019, under: 

a)  Article 8(1): to introduce amendments to the technical definitions and requirements laid 
down in point (f) of Article 2, and in Articles 4 and 5. Those delegated acts  must be 
strictly  limited  to  meeting  demonstrated  needs  resulting  from  evolving  consumer 
demands, technological progress or the need for product innovation. The Commission 
must    adopt  a  separate  delegated  act  in  respect  of  each  technical  definition  or 
requirement;  

b)  Article 8(2):  to  lay down, in  exceptional  cases,  where the law of the importing third 
country so requires, derogations from the requirements set out in point (f) of Article 2, 
and in Articles 4 and 5, the requirements under the categories of spirit drinks set out in 
Annex I and the specific rules concerning certain spirit drinks set out in Annex II; 

c)  Article 8(3):  by specifying which other natural substances or agricultural raw materials 
having a similar effect to the products referred to in points (a) to (e) of Article 4(9) are 
authorised across the Union as sweetening products in the production of spirit drinks; 

d)  Article 19(1): in order to take into account the traditional dynamic ageing process for 
brandy in Member States which is known as the ‘criaderas y solera’ system or ‘solera e 
criaderas’ system as set out in Annex III, to: 

•  lay  down  derogations  from  Article  13(6)  concerning  the  specification  of  a 
maturation period or age in the description, presentation or labelling of such brandy; 

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Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the definition, 
description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks, the use of the names of spirit drinks in the presentation 
and labelling of other foodstuffs, the protection of geographical indications for spirit drinks, the use of ethyl 
alcohol  and  distillates  of  agricultural  origin  in  alcoholic  beverages,  and  repealing  Regulation  (EC)  No 
110/2008 (OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, p. 1) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/787/oj. 

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and 

•  establish appropriate control mechanisms for such brandy. 

e)  Article 19(2): to set up of a public register listing the bodies appointed by each Member 

State to supervise ageing processes as provided for in Article 13(6).  

The Commission is required to draw up a report in respect of these delegations of powers 
not later than nine months before the end of the seven-year period. The delegation of power 
must be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament 
or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each 
period. 

This report describes the Commission’s activity in the period starting from 24 May 2019. 

2. 

EXERCISE OF DELEGATION   

During the period covered by this report, the Commission did not make use of the delegated 
powers conferred upon it under Articles 8(2), 8(3) and 19(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787. 
However, the Commission used the delegation of powers in the areas covered by Articles 
8(1) and 19(2) by adopting  two Delegated Regulations: 

-  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2022/1303  of  25  April  2022  amending 
Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the 
definition of and requirements for ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin2, and 

-  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/723 of 26 February 2021 supplementing 
Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the 
setting  up  of  a  public  register  listing  the  bodies  appointed  by  each  Member  State  to 
supervise the ageing processes for spirit drinks3. 

Both  acts  were  notified  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  to  allow  the  co-
legislators to express possible objections within two months from the notification. Neither 
the European Parliament nor the Council issued any objections to either of the two Delegated 
Regulations, which were published in the Official Journal of the European Union after the 
expiry of the respective scrutiny period. 

3.  CURRENT SITUATION 

The two above-mentioned Delegated Regulations have satisfactorily reached the objective 

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Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1303 of 25 April 2022 amending Regulation (EU) 2019/787 
of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the definition of and requirements for ethyl alcohol 
of agricultural origin  (OJ L 197, 26.7.2022, p. 71) http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2022/1303/oj. 
Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2021/723  of  26  February  2021  supplementing  Regulation  (EU) 
2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the setting up of a public register listing 
the bodies appointed by each Member State to supervise the ageing processes for spirit drinks  (OJ L 155, 
5.5.2021, p. 1) http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2021/723/oj. 

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of  supplementing  and  amending  Regulation  (EU)  2019/787  with  rules  necessary  for  its 
proper and efficient functioning. 

While  no  difficulties  with  the  application  and  interpretation  of  the  two  above-mentioned 
Delegated  Regulations  were  experienced  during  the  respectively  3  and  4  years  of  their 
application, the legal, economic and factual context relevant to those rules (in particular the 
more  technical  ones  concerning  the  definition  of  and  requirements  for  ethyl  alcohol  of 
agricultural origin) evolves continuously. 

Moreover, while the other empowerments referred to in Articles 8(2), 8(3) and 19(1) of the 
legislative act were not used either because no need or justification emerged or because the 
consultation of the expert group for spirit drinks in accordance with Article 46 of the Spirit 
Drinks  Regulation  showed  that  it  was  not  possible  to  present  a  draft  proposal  due  to 
divergences  of  positions/analysis,  it  cannot  be  excluded  that  such  need  may  occur  in  the 
future. 

For these reasons, the extension of the delegation of powers for another seven-year period 
is advisable in order to allow the Commission to promptly react to possible specific issues 
that may arise in that respect.  

4.  CONCLUSION 

In  the  period  covered  by  this  report,  the  Commission  exercised  the  delegated  powers 
conferred upon it by Articles 8(1) and 19(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/787. The Commission 
invites the European Parliament and the Council to take note of this report. 

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