Technical spirits and alcoholic preparations
Alcoholic products which are not alcoholic beverages or medicinal products are classified as technical spirits and alcoholic preparations even referred to as substances containing alcohol.
If you are trading in technical spirits or alcoholic preparations, you are subject to the rules and requirements of the alcohol legislation. Among other things, the legislation has requirements for how technical spirits and alcoholic preparations shall be denatured.
Technical spirits are used in industry, research and health care
Technical spirits are mainly used in professional activities. This may be for example alcohol used as a consumable and input raw material in manufacturing industry or for scientific and medical purposes in research and health care. Technical spirits shall also be classified as CN codes 2207 or 2208 under the EU Common Customs Tariff.
Alcoholic preparations include many different types of products
Alcoholic preparations are also available to consumers through the retail trade. They may include, for example, cosmetics, disinfectants, screen washer fluid, fuel and dietary supplements. These preparations contain more than 2.25 per cent by volume of alcohol and are not classified as alcoholic beverages, technical spirits or medicinal products. If you have any questions about whether a preparation shall be classified as a medicine, you should contact the Swedish Medical Products Agency.
Rules for those who trade in technical spirits and alcoholic preparations
Trading in technical spirits and alcoholic preparations is mainly regulated by:
- The Alcohol Act (2010:1622) (riksdagen.se) (in Swedish)
-
Folkhälsomyndighetens föreskrifter och allmänna råd om teknisk sprit och alkoholhaltiga preparat HSLF-FS 2022:63 (in Swedish)
The law and regulations also contain provisions on denaturing and other safety requirements.
The publication Guidance for trade in technical spirits and alcoholic preparations contains information for those who trade or intend to trade in these types of products and what rules and requirements you are subject to. There is guidance on how to determine what technical spirits and alcoholic preparations are and in which cases you need to have approval from the Swedish Tax Agency in order to start trading. In the publication we have compiled information about what data you shall submit to the Public Health Agency and explained the terms that appear in the Alcohol Act and the related regulations.
Guidance for trade in technical spirits and alcoholic preparations (in Swedish)
Denaturing renders alcohol unfit for consumption
Among other things, the alcohol legislation has requirements for how technical spirits and alcoholic preparations shall be denatured. Denaturing is a method which, in the meaning of the Alcohol Act, involves adding one or more substances to spirits or a product containing spirits. The purpose of denaturing is to make the alcohol or product unfit for consumption.
Notification of the sale of technical spirits and alcoholic preparations
Anyone who sells technical spirits on the Swedish market must notify the Public Health Agency of Sweden. This also applies to those who manufacture, introduce, or import alcoholic preparations and then sell them on the Swedish market. The notification must be made in connection with the start of operations and contain the information requested by the Public Health Agency of Sweden in this form.
You always have an obligation to know what applies by law
The information on this website is intended solely to help you, and does not replace what is written in the law. There may also be other laws or regulations from other authorities that you must be aware of. The Public Health Agency continuously updates the content, but we cannot guarantee that the information on the page is always completely up to date.
Further reading
