ABV declaration on labels
Cameron Ross
Magical Pancake
In the UK, check out document Excise 162 Section 9.1 says "Alcoholic strength is the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV) in the cider at 20°C. For duty purposes, this should be rounded down to one decimal place, for example, 7.59% ABV becomes 7.5% ABV."
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Cameron Ross
On Tuesday, 30 May 2017 16:13:58 UTC+1, Magical Pancake wrote:
Hey Cameron!Hope that helps.
In the UK, check out document Excise 162 Section 9.1 says "Alcoholic strength is the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV) in the cider at 20°C. For duty purposes, this should be rounded down to one decimal place, for example, 7.59% ABV becomes 7.5% ABV."
On Tue, May 30, 2017 at 4:00 PM, Cameron Ross <cjro...@gmail.com> wrote:
I have had my Cider independently analysed for ABV and the figure is 6.32Do I round it down to 6.3 for the label or do I need to put 6.32?ThanksCam
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Vince Wakefield
You also have + or - 0.5% if I remember correctly.
Vince
Nick Bradstock
Remember that the HMRC advice (Notice 162) refers only to the proper definition of ABV for duty purposes – IE: in the case of alcoholic drinks, which duty rate or band applies to it.
Vince’s advice refers to a tolerance permitted in labelling law, as applied by Trading Standards, when cider ABV declarations are made on labels. This is to accommodate reasonable variation around the mean – which should of course be your target ABV - and also potential ABV increase through eg: in-bottle conditioning. This tolerance is allowed subject to the cider maker’s duty of care in ensuring that the declared value on the label reasonably indicates the ABV in any sample put up that way.
The tolerance must NOT be used tactically (intentionally declaring for any reason as much as 0.5% ABV more, or indeed less, than the level you intended!). The tolerance is based, I understand, on the commonly accepted problems of accuracy and precision in ABV measurement which I think may be +/- 0.2% point (or are things better these days?!). The declaration itself should show only 1 place of decimals.
As always, good records of original gravities and calculations used to show how they relate to the 6.3% you declare would be required. One measurement each year of each final blend sold is usually acceptable.
Hope this helps.....
Nick
Cameron Ross
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downside perry
David Llewellyn
Nick, I’m still not clear on a point I might have asked about before, here on the workshop. This is regarding the tolerance allowed by HMRC when the ABV is close to a duty band threshold. Any measurement of a paramater has a built-in unavoidable margin of error, so whether the cidermaker measures his ABV or HMRC measure it in a test sample, there is a +/- margin of error. The size of the error will of course depend on the accuracy and method of measuring, and I don’t happen to know what the normal margins of error are. SO, let’s say you have a cider which you measure at 7.7ABV. If you declare the cider to be 7.5% to HMRC and on your label, so as not to have to pay the higher duty level, is this acceptable to HMRC. For example, a repeat test on the same batch might actually give 7.5% due to margin of error. Basically, what is the tolerance HMRC allow when it comes to ABV levels on the border of 2 duty bands?
I understand that when it comes to labelling regulations, +/- 0.5% is tolerable. But HMRC must also allow some leeway, is it 0.2%? A friend of mine here in Ireland, who works in the wine importing trade, has told me that he is aware of wines often having alcohol levels over 15% even though perhaps only 15%, or 14.5% is declared on the label, and naturally also declared for duty purposes. If Customs tested those wines, strictly speaking they should be levied at the fortified wine rate (over 15%ABV), but this does not happen over here apparently. Are you aware of testing of wines in the UK, and cases where HMRC found wines whose alcohol level pushed them into a higher duty band?
Magical Pancake
Nick, I’m still not clear on a point I might have asked about before, here on the workshop. This is regarding the tolerance allowed by HMRC when the ABV is close to a duty band threshold. Any measurement of a paramater has a built-in unavoidable margin of error, so whether the cidermaker measures his ABV or HMRC measure it in a test sample, there is a +/- margin of error. The size of the error will of course depend on the accuracy and method of measuring, and I don’t happen to know what the normal margins of error are. SO, let’s say you have a cider which you measure at 7.7ABV. If you declare the cider to be 7.5% to HMRC and on your label, so as not to have to pay the higher duty level, is this acceptable to HMRC. For example, a repeat test on the same batch might actually give 7.5% due to margin of error. Basically, what is the tolerance HMRC allow when it comes to ABV levels on the border of 2 duty bands?
I understand that when it comes to labelling regulations, +/- 0.5% is tolerable. But HMRC must also allow some leeway, is it 0.2%? A friend of mine here in Ireland, who works in the wine importing trade, has told me that he is aware of wines often having alcohol levels over 15% even though perhaps only 15%, or 14.5% is declared on the label, and naturally also declared for duty purposes. If Customs tested those wines, strictly speaking they should be levied at the fortified wine rate (over 15%ABV), but this does not happen over here apparently. Are you aware of testing of wines in the UK, and cases where HMRC found wines whose alcohol level pushed them into a higher duty band?
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Nick Bradstock
Hi David
The only answer I can give you is for the UK and comes from my general discussions with HMRC some 4 or 5 years ago (and I cannot claim to be any sort of expert on analytical procedures and statistical testing). It was/is a very grey area and one where legal interpretation and scientific procedure can be at variance.....
I believe it is still the case that the ruling measurement of ABV (in any dispute) would come from analysis of an official sample using the legally defined distillation method outlined in Notices 162 and 163 and ignoring any but the first place of decimals. So, if 7.59% ABV were to be reported then it would be taken to be 7.5% and no more. There is no other allowance.
(I must say I am surprised if any lab were to quote a 2nd place of decimals since this would indicate a degree of reproducible precision beyond the practical – particularly when I understand that it is customary to make only one ABV measurement per sample and no more.)
So, much depends on what you are aiming at. A properly carried out analysis might indeed, for example, give you a result of 7.5% and this would be accepted as reported to put the cider in the “not exceeding 7.5% ABV” duty band.
BUT the risk of the result coming out at say 7.6% is high when the possible range of any one routine analytical result around 7.5% might be, as I believe it still generally is, 7.3% to 7.7% (+/- 0.2% point).
HMRC would not be drawn on the possibility of allowing a tolerance, since to do so would be beyond their powers and so would require parliamentary time, but they would refer you to the doctrine of due diligence, as discussed in 162/163:
- If you take care to control the ABV, by routine sampling and corrective action when necessary, so that statistically it always will be a mean figure of “n.e. 7.5%”, then you would not be penalised for overshooting on occasions. Of course, your records would need to be scrupulously kept and show undershooting and correction for that as well.
- This procedure is usually applied to volume control when packaging (another task placed on HMRC when accepting volume reports for duty payment) and ought also to satisfy TS as to the propriety of a 7.5% declaration on the label and the volume contents.
- However, in the case of ABV you might prefer less bother and so aim at and declare 7.3% !
I’ve attempted also to answer your points in the text below, in red.
Nick
From: cider-w...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cider-w...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Llewellyn
Sent: 30 May 2017 22:39
To: cider-workshop@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [Cider Workshop] ABV declaration on labels
Nick, I’m still not clear on a point I might have asked about before, here on the workshop. This is regarding the tolerance allowed by HMRC when the ABV is close to a duty band threshold – there is no HMRC tolerance on measurements, you must use due diligence, as above. Any measurement of a paramater has a built-in unavoidable margin of error, so whether the cidermaker measures his ABV or HMRC measure it in a test sample, there is a +/- margin of error - agreed. The size of the error will of course depend on the accuracy and method of measuring, and I don’t happen to know what the normal margins of error are. SO, let’s say you have a cider which you measure at 7.7ABV. If you declare the cider to be 7.5% to HMRC and on your label, so as not to have to pay the higher duty level, is this acceptable to HMRC – I would say not acceptable, because you are aware of the 7.7% reading and (presumably) have not sought to correct it.... . For example, a repeat test on the same batch might actually give 7.5% due to margin of error. Basically, what is the tolerance HMRC allow when it comes to ABV levels on the border of 2 duty bands? The only tolerance permissible is shown when you have used and operated proper due diligence, as outlined in my message above.
I understand that when it comes to labelling regulations, +/- 0.5% is tolerable. But HMRC must also allow some leeway – only if due diligence is operated, is it 0.2%? This figure was quoted to me as an estimate of variance in reports in UK lab practice, I believe it is still current. A friend of mine here in Ireland, who works in the wine importing trade, has told me that he is aware of wines often having alcohol levels over 15% even though perhaps only 15% - the limit is n.e. 15% ABV, or 14.5% is declared on the label, and naturally also declared for duty purposes. If Customs tested those wines, strictly speaking they should be levied at the fortified wine rate (over 15%ABV), but this does not happen over here apparently. Are you aware of testing of wines in the UK, and cases where HMRC found wines whose alcohol level pushed them into a higher duty band? I don’t have any knowledge of any such practices – they would be risky if they were used all the time and HMRC resumed routine testing. Perhaps then the winemaker could show that he did operate due diligence but wine regs are such that only wine blends could be controlled in this way – not single site or ‘quality wines’ perhaps....
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