FIGHT TO SAVE CIDER BRANDY CONTINUES

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 6th Dec 2007

The fight to save one of the country's oldest distilled drinks, cider brandy, which can be traced back to 1678, stepped up a gear this week when European Commission officials hinted at a possible reprieve.

The name cider brandy was omitted from new EU spirits regulations after lobbying from brandy producers, who felt that brandy should always be grape-based. On the basis of the legislation, the drink would have to be renamed 'cider spirit'.

Local Euro MP Liz Lynne was alerted to the omission of the name by a producer in Hereford, in her West Midlands region Constituency, and has been trying to find ways to save the historic drink:

"I was naturally alarmed to hear that about this situation as any forced name change would do untold financial damage to the producers, not only through a loss of sales created by the name confusion, but also the re-labelling and marketing which would be necessary. It may also hurt associated business such as the Cider Museum itself in Hereford."

"The European Commission has now confirmed that local cider brandy producers could apply for protected geographical status, such as that already afforded to Herefordshire cider and perry or Staffordshire cheese. This may be a way out of this muddle, allowing locals producers to retain the name cider brandy, but I shall continue to do what I can to help."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

As the current legislation stands, products presently marketed as "cider brandy" may stay on the market with unchanged recipe but shall bear the sales denomination "cider spirit" after a transitional period of 15 months.

More information on the Hereford Cider Museum Trust can be found at: http://www.cidermuseum.co.uk

More information on protecting specialist regional foods can be found via the following link: http://www.foodfrombritain.com/buyersguide/documents/Defra_protected_food_names_guidance.pdf

Across seven EU member states, including the UK, it is estimated that geographical indicators for food and drink add a total value of around £3.5 billion a year.

On the 27th of September, Liz Lynne co-tabled the following Priority Written Question to the European Commission with Graham Watson (LibDem, South West & Gibraltar) and Dutch Liberal MEP Jules Maaten:

1. Is the Commission aware of the impact the current wording of proposal 2005/2006 (COD) on spirit drinks will have on producers of Cider Brandy, such as those in Somerset, Hereford and Normandy? Previous regulation on spirit drinks (1576/89) included reference to 'cider brandy', but the new wording omits this in place of 'cider spirit' (Section 10). It is of huge importance to the producers of Cider Brandy that its name remains the same. Cider Brandy dates back to 1678 and in 2007 has a worldwide reputation.

2. What steps can the Commission take to help producers of cider brandy stuck in this position?

Answer given by Ms Fischer Boel on behalf of the Commission (6.11.2007)

Council Regulation (EEC) No 1576/89 of 29 May 1989 laying down general rules on the definition, description and presentation of spirit drinks is inconsistent in the various language versions as regards the expression "cider brandy". It foresees the term "cider brandy" in the English version, but not in other versions such as French, Spanish and German. Therefore, in practical terms, labels of exported products needed to be adapted to the respective provisions applicable in the countries of destination in the EU.

The proposal for a Regulation of Parliament and of the Council on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks as adopted by the Commission on 15 December 2005[1][1][1] had foreseen the maintenance of the sales denomination "cider brandy".

The Council, in its amended text, deleted the term "cider brandy" in Annex II point 10 of the proposal. Following discussion and opposition by a number of delegations against the usage of "cider brandy", when asked, no delegation spoke in support of the term.

On 19 June 2007, after intensive discussion of the proposal in the appropriate committees and its plenary, Parliament adopted by a large majority in a first reading the General Approach on spirit drinks as presented by the Presidency. The question of "cider brandy" has not been raised in the preceding discussions.