Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau published a 96-page final rule that among other things:
- allows greater flexibility in the placement of mandatory information on labels by eliminating the requirement that certain mandatory information appear on the “brand label”;
- specifically authorizes certain relabeling activities;
- allows addition of labels on malt beverages identifying the wholesaler, retailer, or consumer; and
- provides additional flexibility in allowing the labeling of kegs with “keg collars” and “tap covers” that are not firmly affixed to the keg under certain circumstances to facilitate the reuse of kegs by different brewers.
The final rule also contains a number of clarifications, including:
- adding a definition of “grain” to the distilled spirits regulations that includes all cereal grains, as well as the seeds of the pseudocereals amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa;
- incorporating certain rulings and industry circulars for ease of use;
- clarifying current policy by removing some outdated restrictions on the use of “disparaging” statements or depictions of the American flag if the labeling representations are truthful and non-misleading;
- allowing the use of designations in accordance with trade understanding, rather than statements of composition, in the labeling of malt beverages that are flavored or fermented with ingredients that TTB has determined are generally recognized as traditional ingredients in the production of a fermented beverage designated as “beer,” “ale,” “porter,” “stout,” “lager,” or “malt liquor”, in accordance with TTB Ruling 2015-1;
- creating a class for distilled spirits “specialty products”; and
- specifically permitting certain descriptive terms (such as “amber”, “red”, “dry”, and “cream”) with the designation on malt beverage labels, to reflect existing policy.
The final rule published yesterday does not deal with wine. That will be dealt with in a rule to be published later.
During the comment period, a number of issues were raised which TTB determined to be outside the notice inviting public comment. TTB said many of these issues will be dealt with separately or added to the rulemaking agenda.