1992R3233 — EN — 01.01.1993 — 001.001 — 1
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aB COMMISSIONREGULATION(EEC)No3233/92
of5November1992
laying down detailed rules for implementing the specific wine sector aid arrangements for the
AzoresandMadeira
(OJ L 321, 6.11.1992, p. 11)
Amended by:
Official Journal
Nopage date
aM1Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3889/92 of 28 December 1992 L391 50 31.12.1992
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COMMISSIONREGULATION(EEC)No3233/92
of5November 1992
laying down detailed rules for implementing the specific wine sec-
toraidarrangementsfortheAzoresandMadeira
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European EconomicCommunity,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92 of 15 June
1992 introducing specific measures for the Azores and Madeira relat-
ing tocertain agricultural pro ducts(
1), and in particular Articles 23
and 29 (3) thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1676/85 of 11 June
1985 on the value of the unit of account and the conversion rates tobe applied for the purposes of the common agricultural policy(
2), as
last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2205/90(3), and in particular
Articles 2 (4) and 12 thereof,
Whereas Article 21 of Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92 introduces an
aid scheme to support production of Madeira liqueur wines within thelimits of the region's traditional requirements; whereas the schemecomprises aid for the purchase of rectified concentrated must producedelsewhere in the Community, aid for the purchase of vinous alcohol
obtained from Community distillation operations at a sum determined
by tendering procedure and aid for the ageing of liqueur wines paidover three wine years in respect of wines whose ageing period is aminimum of five years and paid each year for a maximum quantity of20 000 hectolitres; whereas the necessary detailed rules of applicationshould be adopted;
Whereas, in order to supply Madeira with vinous alcohol; the condi-
tions for tendering for the supply operation should be defined;
whereas the tendering cover the determination of the price for pur-chasing alcohol obtained from Community distillation operationsunder conditions which do not disturb the Community market in alco-hol and spirit drinks and should cover delivery to Madeira; whereasprovision should be made to guarantee that the product is indeed used
topro duce liqueur wines in Madeira;
Whereas, in order to ensure that the aid scheme for the ageing of
liqueur wines can be administered in a proper and uncomplicatedmanner, contracts should be concluded between the interested produ-cers and the competent agency in Madeira for ageing the wine for atleast five years; whereas, in the same spirit, payment of the aid should
be distributed equally over the contract period and made contingent
on the lodging on a one-off performance security for a reasonablesum;
Whereas Articles 22 and 29 of Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92 intro-
duce a per hectare aid scheme in the Azores and Madeira for the con-tinued cultivation of vines for the production of quality wines psr intraditional production zones; whereas the detailed rules needed to
administer the scheme and to ensure monitoring of the conditions
adopted by the Council should be laid down;
Whereas the rates tobe used toco nvert intonatio nal currency the
amounts fixed pursuant to the above aid schemes should be deter-mined; whereas, in order to avoid the risk of monetary distortion, therate to be used should be closer to economic reality than the agricul-
tural conversion rate while respecting application of the correcting
factor referred to in Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1676/86;whereas Article 3a of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3152/85(
4),
(1) OJ NoL 173, 27. 6. 1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ NoL 164, 24. 6. 1985, p. 1.
(3) OJ NoL 201, 31. 7. 1990, p. 9.
(4) OJ NoL 310, 21. 11. 1985, p. 1.
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as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3237/90(1), laying down
detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EEC) No 1676/85,provides for the publication of such a rate;
Whereas the measures provided for by Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92
are applicable from 1 July 1992; whereas the detailed rules in thisRegulation should be applicable from that date;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accor-
dance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Wine,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
TITLEI
AidforthepurchaseofrectifiedconcentratedmustsforMadeira
Article 1
1. Producers located in the region of Madeira who wish to receive
aid for the purchase of rectified concentrated musts for use in vinifica-
tion to sweeten Madeira liqueur wines, pursuant to Article 21 (2) ofRegulation (EEC) No 1600/92, shall lodge with the competent agencyprior to a date determined by the latter but by 31 October at the latestan application comprising at least the following:
— a copy of the purchase contract for rectified concentrated must of
Community origin,
— the quantity of rectified concentrated musts for which aid is
requested expressed in hectolitres and % by volume,
— the date of reception of the musts,
— the starting date scheduled for making the wines and the place
where this is tobe do ne.
2. The aid shall be ECU 10 per hectolitre.3. Aid shall be granted for a maximum quantity of 3 600 hectolitres
per marketing year.
Article 2
1. The competent agency shall take all the necessary steps to
ensure the accuracy of the applications and to check that the mustsfor which aid is requested are used accordingly.
2. The competent agency shall pay the aid to the producer before
the end of the wine year in question, without prejudice to possibledelays caused by additional checks.
TITLEII
Aidforthepurchaseofvinousalcoholfrominterventionagencies
Article 3
1. For the purposes of Article 21 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No
1600/92, the amount of the aid for the supply of vinous alcohol to the
market in liqueur wines in Madeira shall be determined periodicallyby invitations to tender for the supply of neutral alcohol obtainedfrom Community wine distillation operations up to a limit of 7 000hectolitres per wine year.
2. The tender shall be for the determination of the price of purchas-
ing the neutral alcohol held by intervention agencies and obtainedfrom Community distillation operations and its delivery to Madeirafor use in the making of liqueur wines in accordance with the tradi-tional methods practised in the region.
(1) OJ NoL 310, 9. 11. 1990, p. 18.
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3. Taking into account the tenders received, the Commission shall,
in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 23 of Regula-tion (EEC) No 1600/92, decide to:
— award the tenders, or
— not award the tenders.
4. Where the Commission decides to award a tender the successful
tenderer shall be the one making the highest bid. If bids are for thesame price the successful tenderer shall be decided by the drawing oflots.
5. The main factors determining the decision in accordance with
paragraph 3 shall be:
— the prices applicable tothe purchase by the interventio n agencies
of the alcohol obtained from Community distillation operations;
— the various costs associated with the supply;— the necessity not to disturb the Community market in alcohol and
spirit drinks.
6. The Commission shall inform the tenderers of the action taken
as regards their bids without delay by written telecommunication andshall notify the Member States holding the alcohol and the successful
tenderer of its decision. In the event that the supply is awarded the
Commission shall notify the agency holding the alcohol and the com-petent agency for verifying execution of the supply to Madeira of theidentity of the successful tenderer.
7. Within twenty days of the date of the notification awarding the
tender the successful tenderer shall supply proof to the agency holdingthe alcohol that it has lodged the performance security with the com-
petent agency.
Article 4
The Annex to the Regulation opening the specific invitation to tender
shall act as the invitation to tender and shall contain the followinginformation:
— the formalities for submitting tenders and the information they
should contain,
— the use and final destination of the alcohol to be sold,
— the amount of the performance security,— the Commission department to which tenders are to be addressed,— the address of the body holding the alcohol for the benefit of
which the above securities are to be lodged,
— the address of the store where the alcohol is being held,— the time limits for removal of the alcohol from the stores and for
its use,
— the formalities for obtaining samples for analysis.
Article 5
1. All the alcohol must be removed from the intervention stores
within the time limit indicated in the invitation to tender.
2. The alcohol shall be removed against presentation of a removal
order issued by the agency holding the alcohol after payment for thequantity corresponding to the removal. The quantity shall be deter-mined to the nearest hectolitre of alcohol at 100 % vol. The removalorder shall indicate the time limit by which the removal of the alcohol
from the intervention agency's stores must be carried out.
3. Ownership of the alcohol for which a removal order is issued
shall be transferred on the date of issue of the order. From that dateon the successful tenderer shall bear all risks, in particular theft, lossor destruction of the product; he shall also be liable for all storageand financial costs relating to quantities which are not removed.
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Article 6
1. The alcohol shall be supplied within the time limit indicated in
the invitation to except in the event of force majeure .
2. The performance security shall be released by the competent
agency once the successful tenderer has provided the proof requiredfor that purpose under Title V of Commission Regulation (EEC) No
2220/85(
1) for the quantity removed.
3. Proof of performance shall be provided by production of a con-
tract of sale, commercial sales invoices or declaration of use of thealcohol in question made out to an operator established in Madeira
and indicating that the product must be used for the making of
Madeira liqueur wines by traditional methods. The contract, invoicesor declarations must be stamped by the competent agency responsiblefor monitoring the progress of this type of operation.
TITLEIII
AidfortheageingofMadeiraliqueurwines
Article 7
1. Aid for the ageing of Madeira liqueur wines as provided for in
Article 21 (5) or Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92 shall be granted forbatches of liqueur wines produced by traditional methods in the regionwhose ageing period is a minimum of five years. A batch is under-stood to be a quantity of wine put into store on the same date for age-
ing purposes whose ageing period continues uninterrupted for at least
five years.
2. Aid for the ageing of Madeira liqueur wines shall be granted to
producers in the region who make application to the competent agencyin the first two months of each year.
Such aid shall be paid on a priority basis in respect of wines of the
most recent harvest. Applications concerning wines produced in pre-
vious harvest years shall be accepted where the quantity in question isless than 20 000 hl, priority consideration being given to the youngestwines.
If the total quantity for which applications are submitted is greater
than 20 000 hl, a reduction percentage shall be applied.
The total amount of product in respect of which a producer submits
an aid application may not be greater than that which is the subject of
the production declaration operated in accordance with Commission
Regulation (EEC) No 3929/87(
2) for the wine year in question.
The Portuguese authorities shall notify to the Commission:
— the total quantities for which contracts have been concluded each
year,
— the rules for implementation of the provisions set out in this para-
graph.
3. Operators who wish to be eligible for the aid scheme shall con-
clude an ageing contract for a minimum period of five years with the
competent agency.
The contract shall be concluded on the basis of an application for aid
submitted once at the beginning of the above period. The applicationmust state at least:
(a) the producer's name and address;
(1) OJ NoL 205, 3. 8. 1985, p. 5.
(2) OJ NoL 369, 29. 12. 1987, p. 59.bM1
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(b) the number of batches to which the ageing contract relates with a
precise identification of each batch (vat number, quantity stored,precise location, etc);
(c) for each batch: the harvest year, the technical characteristics of
the liqueur wine (total alcoholic strength, actual alcoholic strength,sugar content, total acidity, volatile acidity);
(d) for each batch: the nature of the containers,
(e) for each batch: indication of the first and last day of the storage
period.
4. Performance in accordance with the ageing contract shall confer
the right to payment of the total amount of aid determined at the time
the contract was signed. The aid shall be paid in instalments of one
third of the total during the first, third and fifth years of storage.
5. Acceptance of the contract shall be subject to the lodging of a
performance security for the contract period corresponding to 40 % ofthe total amount of the aid. The security shall be lodged in accordancewith the provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85.
6. The competent agency shall verify compliance with the ageing
contract by means, in particular, of checks of the producer's recordsand on-site inspections.
The performance security shall be released on confirmation that the
contract has been duly performed.
If the competent agency discovers that the liqueur wine which is the
subject of the contract is not fit to be offered or delivered for immedi-ate human consumption, it shall cancel the contract.
Except in the event of force majeure , such cancellation of the contract
shall entail the recovery of payments made and the seizure of the per-formance security.
Where force majeure is invoked, such cases shall be notified to the
competent agency within three working days of their occurrence.
TITLEIV
Aid for the production of quality wines psr in Madeira and the
Azores
Article 8
The flat rate per hectare aid for continuing to cultivate vines suitable
for the production of quality wines psr provided for in Articles 22 and29 of Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92 shall be granted at the request ofvinegrowers or their groups or organizations for areas planted withvine varieties suitable for the production of quality wines psr.
These areas must:
(a) have been fully utilized and harvested and had all normal cultiva-
tion work carried out;
(b) have been covered by harvest and production declarations as spe-
cified in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3929/87;
(c) meet maximum yield requirements set by the Member State as
indicated in Article 22 of Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92.
Article 9
1. The application for the per hectare aid shall be lodged by the
interested party with the competent authority during the period fixedby the latter and by 15 May at the latest of each year for the follow-
ing wine year. However, for the 1992/93 wine year applications shall
be submitted by 15 January 1993 at the latest.
2. The application shall state at least the following:
(a) the name, first name and address of the producer, group or organi-
zation;
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(b) the areas cultivated for the production of quality wines psr, in hec-
tares and ares, with their land register reference or an indicationrecognized as equivalent by the agency responsible for verification
of the areas;
(c) the grape variety used;
(d) an estimate of the potential crop.
Article 10
The Member State shall, after recording the actual harvest and yields
on the areas concerned, pay the aid prior to 1 April of the wine yearfor which it is granted.
Article 11
The Member State shall notify the Commission by 30 April at the lat-
est of the areas for which aid applications were lodged and aid actu-ally paid.
TITLEV
Generalprovisions
Article 12
The rate to be applied for conversion into national currency
(a) of the aid for the purchase of rectified concentrated musts referred
to in Title I shall be the agricultural conversion rate valid on the
day on which the application for aid is submitted;
(b) of the aid for the supply of vinous alcohol held by the intervention
agencies referred toin Title II shall be the representative market
rate referred to in Article 3a of Regulation (EEC) No 3152/85
valid on the date on which the time limit fixed for the submissionof bids under the invitation to tender expires;
(c) of the aid for the ageing of liqueur wines referred to in Title III
shall be, for the payment of each instalment, the representative
market rate referred to in Article 3a of Regulation (EEC) No3152/85 valid on the date on which the aid instalment is paid; forthe lodging of the performance security provided for in Article 7,the rate tobe used shall be the representative market rate valid o n
the first day of the annual period for the submission of aid appli-
cations;
(d) of the flat rate per hectare aid referred to in Title IV shall be the
agricultural conversion rate valid on the first day of the wine year
for which the aid is paid.
Article 13
1. Portugal shall ensure, by documentary investigation and on-the-
spot checks, that the information provided in support of aid applica-
tions is accurate.
2. In cases where aid has been paid unduly the competent depart-
ments shall recover the amounts paid, plus interest running from thedate of payment until that of actual recovery. The interest rate shallbe that in force for similar recovery operations under national law.
3. The aid recovered and any interest shall be made over to the
paying departments or agencies, which shall make a deduction propor-tionate to the Community financing rate from the volume of expendi-ture financed by the European Agricultural Guidance and GuaranteeFund.
Article 14
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in
theOfficial Journal of the European Communities .
It shall apply from 1 July 1992.
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This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.