Legal requirements for the production of strong alcoholic beverages

In the positive law of the Republic of Serbia, the production and trade of strong alcoholic beverages are regulated by:

The Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015),
The Law on Food Safety (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 41/2009 and 17/2019),
The Law on Trade (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 52/2019),
The Rulebook on the Content and Manner of Keeping Cellar Records (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 102/2016 and 44/2018 – other law), and
The Rulebook on the Content and Manner of Keeping the Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages, the Form of the Request for Registration, and the Form of the Annual Report (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 110/2016 and 99/2021).

Definition, Categories, and Method of Producing Strong Alcoholic Beverages

Strong alcoholic beverages, within the meaning of the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015), are:

All beverages intended for human consumption with specific sensory characteristics and a minimum alcohol strength of 15% vol. and
Egg liqueur with a minimum alcohol strength of 14% vol.

Strong alcoholic beverages do not include products classified under Customs Tariff (CT) codes 2203, 2204, 2205, 2206, and 2207.

Strong alcoholic beverages are produced:

Directly, in one of the following ways:
a) By distillation of naturally fermented products with or without flavourings,
b) By maceration or similar processing of plant material in ethyl alcohol, distillate of agricultural origin and/or strong alcoholic beverage,
c) By adding flavourings, sugar or other sweeteners, other agricultural products and/or agricultural food products to ethanol, distillate of agricultural origin and/or strong alcoholic beverage, or
By mixing strong alcoholic beverages with one or more of the following:
a) Strong alcoholic beverages and/or,
b) Ethyl alcohol or distillate of agricultural origin and/or,
c) Alcoholic beverages and/or,
d) Beverages.

Strong alcoholic beverages produced in accordance with the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015) are categorised according to the Annexe – Categories of Strong Alcoholic Beverages, printed with the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015) and forming an integral part of it.

Strong alcoholic beverages produced in accordance with the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015) that cannot be categorised shall be produced from raw materials of agricultural origin and/or food products intended for human consumption; alcohol, flavourings and colours may be added, and they may be sweetened.

Legal Requirements for the Production of Strong Alcoholic Beverages

The legal requirements for the production of strong alcoholic beverages can be divided into three groups:

Requirements relating to the registration of producers of strong alcoholic beverages,
Requirements relating to safety, as prescribed by the Law on Food Safety (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 41/2009 and 17/2019), and
Requirements relating to quality, as prescribed by the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015).

Requirements Relating to the Registration of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages

The Law on Trade (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 52/2019) provides a general definition of a producer, stipulating that a producer is a legal entity, entrepreneur or natural person that manufactures a product or presents itself as such by placing its business name, name or title, trademark or other recognisable mark on the product.

The Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015), as a specific regulation governing the production and trade of strong alcoholic beverages, specifies that a producer is a legal entity or entrepreneur engaged in the production of strong alcoholic drinks and entered in the Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages.

The production of strong alcoholic beverages may be carried out by a legal entity or an entrepreneur registered in the Register of Business Entities or another appropriate register, in accordance with a specific regulation, and entered in the Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages maintained by the Ministry responsible for agricultural affairs.

Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages

Registration in the Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages is carried out based on a written request from a legal entity or entrepreneur accompanied by an extract from the Register of Business Entities or another appropriate register in accordance with a specific regulation. Based on the request and the extract from the Register of Business Entities or another appropriate register, the Minister responsible for agriculture shall issue a decision on entry in the Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages.

The Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages contains data on the legal entity or entrepreneur engaged in the production of strong alcoholic beverages and holding a decision on registration in the Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages, including general data on the producer and production, equipment and devices, as well as data on production, trade and stocks of strong alcoholic beverages by year.

The producer is obliged to submit to the Ministry responsible for agriculture, by 1 March of the current year, an annual report for the previous calendar year on changes in data on production, trade and stocks.

The Rulebook on the Content and Manner of Keeping the Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages, the Form of the Request for Registration, and the Form of the Annual Report (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 110/2016 and 99/2021) prescribes in detail the contents and method of keeping the Register of Producers of Strong Alcoholic Beverages, the registration form, and the form of the annual report.

Requirements Relating to the Safety of Producing Strong Alcoholic Beverages

After completing the registration procedure, the legal entity or entrepreneur must contact the competent inspector authorised to assess the conditions for the production of strong alcoholic beverages, primarily from the aspect of the Law on Food Safety (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 41/2009 and 17/2019), given that strong alcoholic beverages fall under the category of food.

In assessing production safety conditions, the requirements of the HACCP standard are applied. According to the Codex Alimentarius definition,

HACCP is a system for identifying, assessing and controlling hazards significant to food safety. HACCP is a management system that analyses and controls biological, chemical and physical hazards from raw materials, handling, production, distribution and consumption of the final product.

Article 47 of the Law on Food Safety (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 41/2009 and 17/2019), which regulates hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), prescribes that food business operators must establish a system to ensure food safety at all stages of production, processing and distribution, except at the level of primary production, in each facility under their control, in accordance with the principles of good manufacturing and hygiene practices and HACCP.

Article 31 of the Law on Food Safety (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 41/2009 and 17/2019) prescribes that food business operators at all stages of food production, processing and trade they manage must ensure that the food complies with the conditions prescribed by this law and other specific regulations, and must prove compliance.

According to Article 32 of the same law, traceability must be ensured at all stages of food production, processing and trade. The food and feed business operator must:

Identify every entity from which it procures and to which it supplies food, feed, animals used for food production, or any substance incorporated into or expected to be incorporated into food or feed, and
Have a system and procedures in place to ensure the availability of traceability data.

Requirements Relating to the Quality of Strong Alcoholic Beverages

The producer, i.e. the importer, is responsible for the quality and safety of strong alcoholic beverages.

Article 36 of the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015) prescribes that strong alcoholic beverages on the market must meet the quality and safety requirements prescribed by the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015) or specific regulations. Safety and quality testing, as well as sensory evaluation, are carried out by laboratories authorised under the law regulating food safety.

Quality Preservation – Regarding quality preservation, Article 37 of the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015) requires that strong alcoholic beverages must be kept and packaged for placing on the market in containers whose closures or foil do not contain lead.

Alcohol Origin – Article 5 of the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 92/2015) expressly prescribes conditions relating to the origin of alcohol. The ethyl alcohol used in the production of strong alcoholic beverages and all their ingredients must be exclusively of agricultural origin. Ethyl alcohol used for diluting or dissolving colours, flavourings, and other permitted additives used in production must also be exclusively of agricultural origin.

Strong alcoholic beverages must not contain synthetic alcohol or any alcohol not of agricultural origin.

Labelling of Containers – The producer is obliged to label each container holding distillate of agricultural origin and strong alcoholic beverage in bulk, according to type and purpose (for production, ageing, storage, etc.), and indicate the quantity and alcohol content in % vol.

Ageing or Maturation – Ageing or maturation of strong alcoholic beverages occurs in appropriate containers through a process in which natural reactions occur, giving the beverage organoleptic characteristics it previously lacked. The age of a matured strong alcoholic beverage is determined by the age of the youngest added alcohol component.

Parameters for Production – Strong alcoholic beverages that are, in accordance with the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, no. 92/2015), classified into categories 1–14 are produced by alcoholic fermentation and distillation exclusively from the raw materials specified for the particular category of strong alcoholic beverage, without the addition of diluted or undiluted alcohol and without the addition of flavourings. Strong alcoholic beverages classified into categories 1–14 may be coloured only with caramel and may be sweetened solely to enhance the final taste.

Strong alcoholic beverages that are, in accordance with the Law on Strong Alcoholic Beverages (“Official Gazette of the RS”, no. 92/2015), classified into categories 15–47 are produced from raw materials of agricultural origin. Strong alcoholic beverages classified into categories 15–47 may be supplemented with colourings, alcohol, aromatic substances and aromatic preparations, and may be sweeten.

Cellar Records

The producer is obliged to keep cellar records, which must include data on the type, quantity, and strength of raw materials used at all stages of production, the quantity and quality of produced and sold strong alcoholic beverages and the sales name of the strong alcoholic beverage, and to keep documentation confirming the specific data.

The producer must retain cellar records and supporting documentation for each strong alcoholic beverage for at least three years, starting from the end of the year in which the last quantity of that beverage was sold.

Cellar records are kept in written or electronic form.

The content and manner of keeping cellar records are regulated by the provisions of the Rulebook on the Content and Manner of Keeping Cellar Records (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 102/2016 and 44/2018 – other law).