Glossary · Law and labelling
Cahier des charges
French. Kept in its own language here rather than translated into the nearest English word, because the nearest English word is usually cut on a different axis.
Definition
The product specification behind a French appellation: the binding document that sets out the area, cultivars, cultivation, processing, composition and labelling rules a product must meet to use the name.
- Subject
- Law and labelling
- Language
- French
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Law and labelling
AOC
The French national appellation system, administered by INAO, under which the cider, perry and Calvados appellations of Normandy and Brittany are defined. AOC names are also registered at European level as AOP or PDO.
Law and labelling
PDO
A protected name under which every stage of production, processing and preparation must take place in the defined area, using raw materials from it. The strictest of the geographical schemes.
Law and labelling
Consejo regulador
The regulating council of a Spanish protected designation, responsible for maintaining the permitted variety list, inspecting producers and certifying that each batch meets the specification.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO)
INAO · regulator · passage verified 2026-08-24
The Cidre Pays d’Auge cahier des charges was read in full on 2026-08-24, in the version homologated by arrêté of 17 January 2026 and published in the Journal officiel on 21 January. That qualification is not decoration. A revision adopted by the Comité national on 10 September 2025 is currently under the procédure nationale d’opposition, is clearly marked as not prejudging the final text, and specifies carbonation differently from the text in force — as grams of CO2 per litre rather than as a minimum pressure in bar. A summary citing the draft would have put a figure on the page that no producer is held to. CiderHQ records the operative text and says which one it is.