by Hervé Lalau
On October 27th regulation 1935/2004 on food safety - and traceability - came into force in the European Community. Its article 17 states: "The traceability of materials
and articles intended to come into contact with food shall be ensured at all stages in order to facilitate control, the recall of defective products, consumer information and the attribution of responsibility. With due regard to technological feasibility, business operators shall have in place systems and procedures to allow identification of the businesses from which and to which materials or articles and, where appropriate, substances or products covered by this regulation and its implementing measures used in their manufacture are supplied. That information shall be made available to the competent authorities on demand. The materials and articles which are placed on the market in the community shall be identifiable by an appropriate system which allows their traceability by means of labelling or relevant documentation or information".
Wines, or more precisely their various containers, are directly implicated; mainly bottles, but also any container in which wine is to be transported or sold to the public. The regulation states that the product should be identified before bottling and labelling. This implies that the wine label must henceforth allow the end product to be thoroughly traceable; but it also makes clear that all containers used for transport shall be accompanied by adequate labels or documents. If not, bottles, barrels or entire containers could be seized at internal or external borders. According to the French Lawyer Eric Agostini, although it was not meant for this purpose, this regulation could become a major weapon for those struggling against counterfeiting. More information at guichard.marie-francoise@wanadoo.fr.
