The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 (Citation 2009, No. 2890; SWR) is a

Statutory Instrument In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation. United Kingdom Statutory instruments are the principal form of delegated or secondary legislation in the United Kingdom. National government Statutory instrumen ...

that regulates the production, labelling, advertising and packaging of

Scotch whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial disti ...

. The regulations were laid before the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

on 30 October 2009, and came into force on 23 November 2009. They repealed the

Scotch Whisky Act 1988 The Scotch Whisky Act 1988 was an Act to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II on 28 June 1988, with the long title "An Act to make provision as to the definition of Scotch whisky and as to the prod ...

and The Scotch Whisky (Northern Ireland) Order 1988. Previous legislation had only governed the way Scotch Whisky was produced; however, the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 also set rules for the labelling, packaging and advertising of Scotch whisky. Furthermore, the regulations also required all single malt Scotch whisky to be bottled in Scotland beginning on 23 November 2012. The

Scotch Whisky Association The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) is a trade organisation that represents the Scotch whisky industry. The Scotch whisky industry is an important part of the Scottish economy, and particularly the Scottish export market. Structure The main of ...

made available a PDF file on its website with the text of the regulations, along with summarization, commentary, and explanations of certain parts of the law.

Geographical indications

The regulations define five legally protected

geographical indication A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...

s for Scotch Whisky: two "protected localities" –

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

and

Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's capital ...

– and three "protected regions" –

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

, Lowland and

Speyside Speyside can refer to: * Speyside, Ontario, a settlement in Ontario * Strathspey, Scotland, the famous whisky producing region by the River Spey ** Speyside single malts, the type of whisky produced in Strathspey * Speyside, Trinidad and Tobago in T ...

.Section 10, Parag 5.

References

External links

Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009
Statutory Instruments of the United Kingdom Scotch whisky 2009 in Scotland 2009 in British law Alcohol law in the United Kingdom Alcohol in Scotland {{whisky-stub