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Bottled Waters

There are three types of water which can be bottled (packaged). Choose a category of water below to access more information about the water type:

Bottled Water - The Differences Natural Mineral Water Spring Water Other Water
Recognised by responsible authority Yes No No
Hydrogeologist report required Yes No No
Bottled at source Yes Yes No
Information on where the spring is exploited and the name of the spring Yes Yes No
Include a statement of analytical composition on the label Yes No No
Constant mineral composition Yes No No
Treatment permitted No No Yes

Summary of EU and national legislation applicable to natural mineral water, spring water and ‘other water’
EU legislation Natural mineral waters Spring waters Other waters
Directive 2009/54/EC All Article 5(1, 2 and 3), Article 9(4) and Article 9(5) n/a
Commission Regulation (EU) No 115/2010 All All n/a
Directive (EU) 2020/2184 (S.I. No. 99 of 2023) n/a All All
Commission Directive 2003/40/EC All Article 5 and Article 6 n/a
Council Regulation (Euratom) 2016/52* All All All
Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (S.I. No 747 of 2007) (as amended) All All All
Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (S.I. No. 369 of 2006) All All All
Council Directive 2013/51/Euroatom n/a All All
National legislation Natural mineral waters Spring waters Other waters
S.I. No. 286 of 2016, as amended by S.I. No. 691 of 2022 All All All

Importation of bottled water 

There are no restrictions on the importation of bottled water from outside the EU, other than that the bottled water meets the relevant legal requirements set out in the sections above and are labelled in accordance with EU rules including, where appropriate, those contained in Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (this opens in a new tab). Health certificates are not required.

Hygiene requirements

Production of bottled water in Ireland is subject to compliance with European Communities (Hygiene of foodstuffs) Regulations, 2006 (S.I. No. 369 of 2006) (this opens in a new tab) which gives effect to Regulation 852/2004/EC (this opens in a new tab) on the hygiene of foodstuffs. You can find more information on the hygiene rules in our legislation section.

Standards and guides

IS 432:2010

The National Standards Authority of Ireland has produced a standard titled Irish Standard IS 432:2010, Packaged groundwater (this opens in a new tab) which covers water that is placed in a sealed container or package and is offered for sale, or supply for human consumption. Compliance with this standard is voluntary on the part of producers.

This standard can be purchased from the NSAI directly at www.standards.ie (this opens in a new tab) or by calling 01 8576730

Codex Alimentarius

Codex Alimentarius has published a number of Codes of Practice which are relevant to bottled water :

The above standards are available for download from the Codex website (this opens in a new tab).