Give Japanese sake the same exemption from the EU Regulation on Packaging than wine and spirits

03/11/2024, 06:01

It seems official now, even if the law still has to be passed, but the EU has agreed at the last minute to include sake in the exemption already given to wine and spirits in the final draft regarding the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. Nikkei Asia and the Japanese Sake & Shochu Makers Association have both confirmed the information (and both are reliable sources), which is a relief to be honest.
It also means that the petition I started is now irrelevant and won't have to be sent to Brussels.

In the wake of these good news, i would like to thank you all for supporting this short-lived petition. We will still be able to enjoy sake within the EU in the years to come.

For those of you based in Estonia and Finland, I started last year the project Sake Calling, to educate people through tastings and events, and help promote and develop the sake industry in the region. If it's of any interest for you, feel free to get in touch at jerome@sakecalling.com or sakecalling.com/ (or the usual social media).

Thank you once again to everyone, and Kanpai!

Jerome Bronzini

03/06/2024, 08:15

According to an article published this morning on Yomiuri.co.jp, the EU would have agreed at the last minute to grant exemption to sake on the same basis than wine and spirits, as the final draft for the law was discussed yesterday.

In that sense this petition may not need to be need to be forwarded to the Parliament in the end. I will however keep it open until confirmation of the agreement.

03/04/2024, 13:17

To clarify something, following some feedbacks: i am in no way opposed to a better recycling scheme. As I mentioned, the proposal is perfectly honorable, and a better handling of used bottles would be a nice initiative. However, I fail to understand why exempting some industries from that proposal and not others. Either it applies to all, forcing everyone to do better, or to none. What makes wine and spirits more special than sake here?

After discussing with some Japanese exporters and sake breweries, some are already working towards alternative solutions, like non-glass bottles, or shipping sake to Europe in tanks to then fill regular wine bottles here. If the sake industry will have to adapt in order to survive and develop, as is, such a proposal made by the EU would still decrease the already limited selection of Japanese sake available in Europe, no doubt about this, at a time when more and more breweries depend more and more on exports to be able to keep brewing, even if the european market is still relatively small compare to the US or Asia.

03/04/2024, 10:36

Just a grammatical mistake i wished to correct.


New petition description:

Through this petition, we are asking the EU to consider granting Japanese sake exemption from the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. 

The EU Proposal for a Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste requires businesses to reuse or recycle containers (bottles, cans, boxes...) used for beverages and food products from 2030 onwards. 

In the terms currently in place, the regulation would already grant exemption to wine and spirits, while simply putting a halt to Japanese sake imports to EU as sake is not legally categorised as either wine nor spirit, and its bottles considered unsuitable for recycling due itstheir unusual sizes.