New rules for honey, sweeteners and chocolate. What does the new regulation on confectionery entail?

After more than twenty years, the Ministry of Agriculture has replaced the existing regulation governing the requirements for natural sweeteners, confectionery, cocoa and honey. The new Decree No. 490/2025 Sb. entered into effect on 14 June 2026 – do your products comply with the new requirements?

The main reason for the change is the transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1438, which lays down EU rules relating to honey, fruit juices, jams and condensed milk, whilst also ensuring consistency with European regulations concerning honey, sugar and chocolate. The previous decree no longer reflected developments in the food sector or the needs of the supervisory authorities. The new legislation is primarily intended to clarify the definition of individual products, minimise the risk of misleading consumers, and provide greater legal certainty for both manufacturers and consumers.

Honey: fewer categories and stricter rules for origin labelling

One of the most noticeable changes is the reduction in the number of honey categories based on the method of production – of the previous eight categories, six remain. Filtered and creamed honey are no longer recognised as separate categories. That leaves extracted honey, comb honey, pressed honey, drained honey, chunk honey, and baker’s honey. At the same time, the general rule applies that no pollen or other specific ingredients of honey may be removed from honey, unless that is inevitable when removing foreign materials.

The definition of honey itself is also being clarified. Honey is now expressly defined as the natural sweet substance produced by honeybees from the nectar of plants or from secretions of plants or from the excretions of plant-sucking insects. The bees collect, transform and deposit it in honeycombs to ripen and mature. 

Another significant change for producers and consumers is a stricter country-of-origin labelling. Until now, it has been possible to use general labelling for blends of honeys from multiple countries, such as “blend of EU honeys” or “blend of non-EU honeys”. This is no longer possible – if the honey originates in more than one country, the label must list all countries of origin in descending order of their share in the weight of the blend, together with the percentage share of each country. The decree also allows honey to be labelled according to its regional, territorial or local origin, or as “monofloral” or “blended”, as well as according to the plant species from which it is derived.

Confectionery, chocolate and sweeteners: new terminology and clearer rules

For sugar, cocoa and chocolate, the basic structure of the requirements remains similar. However, the new decree sets out a number of specific parameters – for example, the rules for the use of vegetable fats in chocolate, the method for calculating the proportion of individual ingredients, and the permissible negative deviations in package weight.

The more significant changes include:

• The term “caramel” for a foodstuff produced by heating saccharides (possibly with the addition of water or vegetable oil) is now replaced by the term caramel syrup. According to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, the term “caramel” is reserved for a food additive.
• Cane sugar now has its own definition, which is based on the international Codex Alimentarius.
• Sugar whitening with a bluing agent, i.e. by adding ultramarine blue, is now expressly prohibited for all types of sugar.
• Foodstuffs with sweetening properties, such as maple syrup and chicory syrup or coconut sugar and palm sugar, now form a separate category with its own classification into types, groups and sub-groups. According to the explanatory memorandum, the previous terms “natural sugars” and “natural syrups” were misleading – as these products undergo technological processing and are not consumed in their natural state.
• Candy mass is now defined as the technological basis for most confectionery products. The decree also sets out more specific requirements for the individual types of confectionery, such as hard candy drops, toffees, jellies, chewing gum and nougat.
• Praline is now used as an alternative term for a chocolate bonbon. This term is commonly used in other European Union countries as well.
• The labelling of chocolate as “hořká” (dark) may now be used on a voluntary basis as supplementary information to describe the flavour profile of the product. This is a traditional designation that helps consumers distinguish between (dark) chocolate and milk chocolate.

The new decree also sets out requirements for the transport and storage of cocoa beans. Among other things, this is in response to findings from supervisory practice, which indicate that mould growth can occur if dried beans are handled incorrectly.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR PRODUCTS?

Products that were placed on the market before the new decree entered into effect, i.e. before 14 June 2026, may continue to be sold until stocks are exhausted. It is therefore not necessary to withdraw these products from the market. However, products placed on the market after that date must comply with the new requirements.

Producers and retailers of honey, confectionery and other foodstuffs concerned should therefore check that their labelling, ingredients and procedures comply with the new regulations.

Are you unsure whether you are complying with the new rules? Our specialist food team will be happy to help you with this.