The deadline to file written comments in the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s (TTB) review of potential rules and regulations changes for alcoholic beverage labeling and advertising is set to expire this Friday (March 29).
Among the changes under consideration are mandatory disclosures for alcohol content, nutritional information, ingredients and major allergens.
Brewers Association (BA) general counsel Marc Sorini took part in public listening sessions last month, advocating for rule changes that take into account the nation’s 9,500 small and independent craft brewers. Around three-quarters of them produce fewer than 1,000 barrels annually and have a mean production of around 400 barrels a year.
Speaking to Brewbound, Sorini said even if the deadline holds this week, there remains a lengthy process ahead before a notice of proposed rulemaking is reached. Once proposed rulemaking is achieved, it will trigger another comment period followed by the drafting of final rules.
Once published, the rules could see a three-year phase in for updating labels, packaging, websites and more, which the BA is urging the TTB to consider, Sorini said. Changes likely wouldn’t be finalized and implemented until as early as 2027.
Sorini added that there are “a couple of serious pain points” potentially for the trade group’s membership if the new rules do not factor in small producers or small-batch products.
Sorini said he notified the TTB of those potential pain points, including the potential of certain calculating or validating measures such as alcohol by volume or nutrients being cost prohibitive for small producers and that could require a sophisticated in-house lab for testing or outsourcing for tests.
“Raising rivals’ costs is a classic antitrust strategy,” Sorini said. “You get a regulatory system that only the big guys can hit, and that’s used as another competitive advantage when they already have economies of scale, competitive advantages and route to market and 101 other things.
“If everybody has to spend, let’s call it $500 per batch on outside testing, you’re talking about a very large volume product, that’s nothing,” he continued. “If you’re talking about our members, who typically are making less than 1,000 barrels a year, that’s a huge expense.”
Sorini added that on-label discourses of nutrient measures such as calorie counts or ingredients could be “another huge burden” if slight recipe tweaks require label updates.
“Our plea to TTB is twofold: One, when it comes to nutrient measures and ingredients, any final rule should allow that to be accessible by QR code so you just have one label change with your QR code and then you can change the background on that every time,” he said. “That’s what the Europenas recently did with their wine labeling rules.
The BA is also advocating for “reasonably forgiving ranges” and “ways to validate” attributes such as alcohol by volume, Sorini said. If the TTB calls for tighter ranges for large volume products, the BA is advocating for a “more forgiving” range for small-batch products.
Expect this to be among the talking points during Craft Brewers Conference (April 21-24) and the BA’s annual “Hill Climb” in Washington, D.C., (June 11-12).