Message 001
Communication from the Commission - TRIS/(2024) 2117
Directive (EU) 2015/1535
Notification: 2024/0443/CZ
Notification of a draft text from a Member State
Notification – Notification – Notifzierung – Нотификация – Oznámení – Notifikation – Γνωστοποίηση – Notificación – Teavitamine – Ilmoitus – Obavijest – Bejelentés – Notifica – Pranešimas – Paziņojums – Notifika – Kennisgeving – Zawiadomienie – Notificação – Notificare – Oznámenie – Obvestilo – Anmälan – Fógra a thabhairt
Does not open the delays - N'ouvre pas de délai - Kein Fristbeginn - Не се предвижда период на прекъсване - Nezahajuje prodlení - Fristerne indledes ikke - Καμμία έναρξη προθεσμίας - No abre el plazo - Viivituste perioodi ei avata - Määräaika ei ala tästä - Ne otvara razdoblje kašnjenja - Nem nyitja meg a késéseket - Non fa decorrere la mora - Atidėjimai nepradedami - Atlikšanas laikposms nesākas - Ma jiftaħx il-perijodi ta’ dewmien - Geen termijnbegin - Nie otwiera opóźnień - Não inicia o prazo - Nu deschide perioadele de stagnare - Nezačína oneskorenia - Ne uvaja zamud - Inleder ingen frist - Ní osclaíonn sé na moilleanna
MSG: 20242117.EN
1. MSG 001 IND 2024 0443 CZ EN 05-08-2024 CZ NOTIF
2. Czechia
3A. Úřad pro technickou normalizaci, metrologii a státní zkušebnictví
Biskupský dvůr 1148/5
110 00 Praha 1
tel: 221 802 212
e-mail: eu9834@unmz.cz
3B. Ministerstvo financí
odbor Daňová legislativa / odd. Legislativa správy daní a celnictví
Letenská 15, 118 10 Praha 1
e-mail: loterie@mfcr.cz
4. 2024/0443/CZ - C60A - Labelling
5. Draft Act amending certain acts in the field of tax administration and the competence of the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic
6. Marking of alcohol on consumer packaging
7.
8. The purpose of the notification is to amend Sections 5 and 15 of Act No 307/2013 on the compulsory marking of alcohol, as amended, contained in the draft Act amending certain acts in the field of tax administration and the competence of the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic (part ninety-six).
The purpose of the amendment to these provisions is to extend the range of maximum permitted sizes for consumer containers of alcohol The draft Act will also allow the use of consumer containers with a volume over 3 litres and up to 5 litres made of glass, but these containers will have to be fitted with a one-way closure. The term 'one-way closure' is already used in the Act, but the Act does not define it directly, but assumes that it is a term of general language (within the given business sector), the meaning of which follows without further implication. It is a closure that, under normal conditions, does not allow the consumer container to be refilled without the cooperation of the manufacturer – this characteristic has to be considered both materially and technically neutral; this is usually e.g. an attachment connected to the neck of the bottle, but can also be in other forms to prevent refilling, e.g. in the form of an additional tapping device (using a mechanical barrier or electronic flow monitoring). In the given context, the consumer containers of alcohol permitted in restaurants are being also regulated.
Thus, the following sizes of consumer containers of alcohol will now be allowed on the market:
• up to and including 1 litre – no restrictions on material and closures;
• over 1 litre up to and including 3 litres – only glass containers with no restrictions on closures;
• over 3 litres up to and including 5 litres – only glass containers with a one-way closure only.
In relation to the increase in sizes of consumer containers, this matter is also modified for restaurant facilities, with the following new sizes of consumer containers of alcohol being permitted in the following quantities (per point of sale or per dispensing point):
• 1x open container of one kind up to and including 1 litre – no restrictions on closure;
• 3x open containers of one kind up to and including 1 litre – only with a one-way closure;
• 1x open container of one kind of more than 1 litre and up to and including 3 litres – only glass and at the same time only with a one-way closure;
• 1x open container of one kind over 3 litres and up to and including 5 litres – only glass container and with a one-way closure only.
Given the legal definition of the type of consumer containers, which does not distinguish between the size of the container (‘type of consumer container means, for the purposes of the Act, a consumer container differentiated according to its name and manufacturer’), the above variants are to be understood as mutually exclusive, since through the presence of a single container the given type of consumer container is already present at the given location, regardless of size (i.e. it is not permissible for another consumer package of the same type but of a different size to be present in a given place). In the case of the variant of 3x of open container of a single type up to and including 1 litre (only with a single-way closure), the simultaneous presence of a container of the same type but of a different size is explicitly forbidden by the Act.
Basic text: Act No 307/2013 on the compulsory marking of alcohol
Prior notifications: 2020/0336/CZ
Keywords: alcohol, consumer container, distribution and sale of spirits
9. Under the current legislation, some partial shortcomings of both a substantive and legislative nature have been identified by the Ministry of Finance, the Czech Customs Administration bodies and the professional public, one of which is the regulation of the size of the consumer packaging of alcohol. This amendment stems from the need to expand the possibility of innovative methods of distribution and sale of spirit drinks on the Czech market, in particular in conjunction with instruments of the so-called circular economy. Any increase in consumer packs of alcohol must be closely linked to the provision of an increased guarantee that excludes the use of larger consumer packs for the distribution and sale of illegal spirit drinks, in particular by continuously replenishing the originally legal consumer packaging of alcohol from illegal sources (as was the case before the current legislation was introduced, which culminated in 2012 among other things by a famous methanol case). At the same time, any regulation must respect the requirement of technological neutrality. It follows from that requirement that the possible magnification of consumer packaging should not only be accompanied by sufficient safety guarantees, but at the same time that the guarantee was not based on a single technological solution, but was designed to be universal. The solution is thus to partially increase the maximum size of consumer packagings of alcohol, while at the same time laying down additional conditions ensuring sufficient safety guarantees for the handling of spirit drinks, while respecting the principle of technological neutrality of the legislation.
10. References to basic texts: 2020/0336/CZ
the basic texts were forwarded within an earlier notification:
2020/0336/CZ
11. No
12.
13. No
14. No
15. No
16.
TBT aspects: No
SPS aspects: No
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European Commission
Contact point Directive (EU) 2015/1535
email: grow-dir2015-1535-central@ec.europa.eu
