Pursuant to Article 64(4) of the Agriculture Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia Nos 45/08, 57/12, 90/12 — ZdZPVHVVR, 26/14 and 32/15, 27/17, 22/18, 86/21 – Constitutional Court decisions 123/21 and 44/22) Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food issues
Pursuant to Article 64(4) of the Agriculture Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of
Slovenia Nos 45/08, 57/12, 90/12 — ZdZPVHVVR, 26/14 and 32/15, 27/17, 22/18, 86/21 –
Constitutional Court decisions 123/21 and 44/22) Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food
issues
RULES
on the quality of beer
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
(Content)
These Rules regulate the conditions for the minimum quality, classification and
labelling that beer must meet on the market.
Article 2
(Information procedure and clause)
(1) These Rules have been issued in accordance with the information procedure
under Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of
9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of
technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ L 241, 17. 9. 2015,
p. 1).
(2) The provisions of these Rules shall not apply to products which, in accordance
with national legislation ensuring an equivalent level of protection of the public interest as
determined in the legislation of the Republic of Slovenia, are lawfully:
- produced or marketed in other Member States of the European Union and Turkey, or
- produced in the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which are
also signatories to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
(3) These Rules shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation
(EU) 2019/515 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the
mutual recognition of goods lawfully marketed in another Member State and repealing
Regulation (EC) No 764/2008 (OJ L 91, 29. 3. 2019, p. 1).
Article 3
(Meaning of terms)
The terms used in these Rules mean:
1. beer is a fermented alcoholic beverage in which ethanol and at least part of carbon
dioxide are formed during the fermentation of the ingredients referred to in Article 4 of
these Rules and is produced by a technological brewing process followed by
fermentation. Part of the ethanol present can be of secondary origin (e.g. as a carrier of
additives, aromas, extracts);
2. extract in the base wort is the content of soluble substances in the wort before
fermentation, expressed in % (m/m);

RULES

on the quality of beer

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

(Content)

These Rules regulate the conditions for the minimum quality, classification and labelling that beer must meet on the market.

Article 2

(Information procedure and clause)

(1) These Rules have been issued in accordance with the information procedure under Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ L 241, 17. 9. 2015, p. 1).

(2) The provisions of these Rules shall not apply to products which, in accordance with national legislation ensuring an equivalent level of protection of the public interest as determined in the legislation of the Republic of Slovenia, are lawfully:

— produced or marketed in other Member States of the European Union and Turkey, or

— produced in the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which are also signatories to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

(3) These Rules shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/515 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the mutual recognition of goods lawfully marketed in another Member State and repealing Regulation (EC) No 764/2008 (OJ L 91, 29. 3. 2019, p. 1).

Article 3

(Meaning of terms)

The terms used in these Rules mean:

beer is a fermented alcoholic beverage in which all ethanol and at least part of carbon dioxide are formed during the fermentation of the ingredients referred to in Article 4 of these Rules and is produced by a technological brewing process followed by fermentation;

extract in the base wort is the content of soluble substances in the wort before fermentation, expressed in % (m/m);

alcohol content by volume (% vol) is the ethanol content at 20 °C, expressed as a percentage by volume.

3. alcohol content by volume (% vol) is the ethanol content at 20 °C, expressed as a
percentage by volume.
II. BEER ON THE MARKET

Article 4

Article 4
(Raw materials)

The raw materials for the production of beer are:

− water that must meet the conditions set out in the rules governing drinking water in order to prepare process water;

− barley malt or other sweetened or unsweetened cereals or products made from cereals and cereal-like raw materials, crops and other raw materials based on starch and sugars;

−- hops and hop products in accordance with the rules governing the certification of hop crops and hop products;

− microbial cultures, where brewing yeast or other microorganisms or microbial communities are used for beer fermentation;

− other raw materials.

Article 5

- water that must meet the conditions set out in the rules governing drinking water in order
to prepare process water;
- barley malt or other sweetened or unsweetened cereals or products made from cereals
and cereal-like raw materials, crops and other raw materials based on starch and
sugars;
- hops and hop products in accordance with the rules governing the certification of hop
crops and hop products;
- microbial cultures, where brewing yeast or other microorganisms or microbial
communities are used for beer fermentation;
- other raw materials.
Article 5
(Classification of beer)

Beer is classified according to:

extract content of the base wort;

alcohol content;

colour;

technological processing.

Article 6

- extract content of the base wort;
- alcohol content;
- colour;
- technological processing.
Article 6
(Labelling of beer)

(1) Beer must be labelled according to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004 (OJ L 304, 22. 11. 2011, p. 18), as last amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on novel foods, amending Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation (EC) No 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1852/2001 (OJ L 327, 11. 12. 2015, p. 1), and according to these Rules.

(2) Depending on the value of the extract in the base wort, beer shall be labelled as:

beer, if it contains up to 13.5% (m/m) of extract in the base wort;

special beer if it contains more than 13.5% up to 16% (m/m) of the extract in the base wort;

strong beer if it contains more than 16% (m/m) of extract in the base wort.
(1) Beer must be labelled in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food
information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC)
No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission
Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC,
Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission
Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004 (OJ
L 304, 22. 11. 2011, p. 18), as last amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on novel foods, amending Regulation
(EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation
(EC) No 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulation
(EC) No 1852/2001 (OJ L 327, 11. 12. 2015, p. 1), and according to these Rules.
(2) Depending on the value of the extract in the base wort, beer shall be labelled
as:
- beer, if it contains up to 13.5% (m/m) of extract in the base wort;
- special beer if it contains more than 13.5% up to 16% (m/m) of the extract in the base
wort;
- strong beer if it contains more than 16% (m/m) of extract in the base wort.

(3) Given the lower alcohol content, beer shall be labelled as:

light beer if it contains a maximum of 3.5% alcohol by volume;

non-alcoholic beer, if it contains a maximum of 0.5% by volume of alcohol.

- light beer if it contains a maximum of 3.5% alcohol by volume;
- non-alcoholic beer, if it contains a maximum of 0.5% by volume of alcohol.
(4) Depending on the colour, beer shall be labelled as:

pale beer, if the intensity of the colour is not more than 30 EBC units;

dark beer, if the intensity of the colour is above 30 EBC units.

(5) Beer shall be labelled as opaque beer, if the opacity is the result of special technological procedures.

(6) Beer that has aged for at least 6 months shall be labelled as matured beer.

- pale beer, if the intensity of the colour is not more than 30 EBC units;
- dark beer, if the intensity of the colour is above 30 EBC units.
(5) Beer shall be labelled as opaque beer, if the opacity is the result of special
technological procedures.
(6) Beer that has aged for at least 6 months may be labelled as matured beer.
(7) Beer that has not been filtered shall be labelled as unfiltered beer.

(8) Beer that has not been pasteurised shall be labelled as unpasteurised beer.

(9) Beer made from at least 30% (m/m) of wheat malt shall be labelled as wheat beer. If beer is produced from other cereals or cereal products and cereal-like raw materials, the name of the product shall indicate the name of the raw material used if it represents at least 30% of the basic raw material (e.g. buckwheat beer).

(10) Beer with a lower CO2 content shall be labelled as beer containing a lower value of CO2 as defined in Article 6 of these Rules.

(11) Beer without hops shall be labelled as beer to which hops and hop products are not added.

(12) Other characteristics of the beer (e.g. aged in a cask, upper fermentation beer) may also be indicated.

Article 7

(9) Beer made from at least 30% (m/m) of wheat malt shall be labelled as wheat
beer. If beer is produced from other cereals or cereal products and cereal-like raw materials,