3. 5. 82 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 112/31 
Opinion on the proposal for a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 on 
the common organization of the market in wine 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 277 of 29 October 1981, page 5. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 27 October 1981 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Article 43 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 195th 
plenary session held in Brussels on 24 and 25 February 1982. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 
thereof, 
Having regard to the request made by the Council of the 
European Communities on 27 October 1981 for an 
opinion on the proposal for a Regulation amending 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 on the common 
organization of the market in wine, 
Having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 
27 October 1981 instructing the Section for Agriculture 
to prepare an opinion on the matter, 
Having regard to its previous work on the matter, 
Having regard to the opinion adopted by the Section for 
Agriculture at its 232nd meeting held on 4 and 5 February 
1982 (meeting of 5 February), 
Having regard to the report made by the rapporteur, 
Mr Paggi, 
Having regard to the discussions at its 195th plenary 
session held on 24 and 25 February 1982 (meeting of 
25 February), 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
by 81 votes to nine, with 16 abstentions: 
GENERAL COMMENTS 
1. The Committee would first of all like to refer back 
to its earlier opinion on agricultural aspects of the 
enlargement of the Community to include Spain, which 
was approved on 23 September 1981. This opinion 
outlined the measures which were felt necessary to ensure 
a stable balance in the wine sector in the enlarged 
Community (J). 
W OJ No C 310, 30. 11. 1981, p. 36. 2. From this standpoint, the Committee commends 
the efforts made by the Commission in submitting 
proposals for the amendment of Regulation (EEC) 
No 337/79. However, it questions whether these 
changes (which represent the third drastic revision of 
specific Regulations in the space of 10 years) will be 
adequate to guarantee Community vine growers the same 
standard of income as that enjoyed in other sectors, since 
the Regulations which govern the wine market at present 
do not guarantee wine growers a specific intervention 
price. It also has to be remembered that vine growing 
provides a considerable amount of employment, 
particularly in hilly areas and depressed parts of the 
Community. 
3. However, the Committee feels that the 
Commission's latest proposals will once again have an 
adverse effect on supply and that this approach will 
ultimately destroy the product. It does not appear that the 
Community has explored all possible avenues - as it did 
in the case of several other agricultural products - with a 
view to stimulating demand and generally increasing 
outlets. 
4. In this connection, the Committee recalls stands 
taken by it in the past on the subject of the taxation of the 
wine sector and once again urges that the Community 
'complete as soon as possible the harmonization of 
customs and excise duties first of all among the different 
types of beverages within each State and then among the 
States themselves'. As the inordinately heavy duties levied 
by some Member States unquestionably depress wine 
sales, it is clear that harmonization will have to take the 
form of a reduction in taxation rates. What 
harmonization must not do is provide Member States, 
which do not already tax wines, with an opportunity to 
impose a specific tax on wine. 
5. Furthermore, greater emphasis should be placed on 
export policy, by making greater use of export rebates 
NoC 112/32 Official Journal of the European Communities 3. 5. 82 
and providing incentives for long-term commercial 
agreements for the supply of non-Member States. 
6. The Committee feels it is important that the 
proposed amendments to the Regulations applicable to 
the wine market should provide a basis for merging the 
whole of the Community market into a unified whole, 
governed by rules which are: (a) as consistent as possible; 
and (b) calculated both to raise consumers' expectations 
in terms of price, and improve quality generally, and 
satisfy producers' requirements as to their standard of 
income. 
7. Furthermore, the Committee would point out that 
it has repeatedly advocated that the various wines on the 
market should be labelled as fully and accurately as 
possible, and would again urge the Commission to submit 
proposals to bring this about as soon as possible. 
8. In the light of the foregoing considerations, the 
Committee has the following comments to make on the 
individual proposals advanced by the Commission, with 
particular reference to the question of whether or not the 
proposed measures are an appropriate means of 
remedying the problems which they are intended to 
resolve. 
Plantings 
9. The Committee considers that the aim of reducing 
the area devoted to vine cultivation in regions not suited 
for- it, by means of a ban on replanting in irrigated areas, is 
in line with the 1979 to 1985 plan of action for the wine 
sector, but feels that any such reduction should be 
confined to areas in category 3. 
10. What the Committee really feels is that the areas in 
categories 2 and 3 should first of all be redefined in order 
to take into account the suitability of the soil for vine 
cultivation and the possibilities of other crops being 
grown. To take a more specific example, there should be a 
specific definition of the term 'irrigation systems' (Article 
30a (2) (a)), to avoid any problems of interpretation when 
the ban on replanting actually comes into force. 
Enrichment of vintages 
11. The Committee notes that the Commission does 
not intend to allow wet sugaring to be continued, in those 
areas where it is permitted, beyond 15 March 1984. 
12. The Committee also endorses the Commission's 
statements concerning discrimination against Mediterranean vine growers, who are only permitted to 
use expensive grape by-products (concentrated musts and 
rectified concentrated musts). 
13. The Commission proposal to establish a balance 
between the costs incurred for the two methods of 
sugaring by levying a duty on sucrose should be rejected, 
since it does not fulfil the requirements laid down 
previously by the Economic and Social Committee, which 
advocated that 'the use of products obtained from grapes 
(grape must or grape sugar) should gradually replace 
traditional chaptalization (beet sugar) in the 
wine-growing areas where enrichment by the addition of 
sugar is still allowed'. 
14. In the Committee's view, it is more beneficial to 
continue to provide aid for users of concentrated musts, 
since this has the additional advantage of reducing the 
volume produced, thus helping to improve the balance of 
the market. 
Distillation measures 
15. The Committee approves the obligatory 
distillation measures designed to maintain quality which 
are applied to wines produced from grapes normally 
grown for purposes other than the production of table 
wines (Charente, and wines made from table grapes and 
raisin grapes). These measures will eliminate from the 
market wines which are below standard and so help to 
improve the balance of the market. 
16. The Committee points out that, faced with a 
choice between making preventive distillation 
compulsory or providing incentives to make it a more 
attractive proposition to producers, the Commission opts 
for the former solution. 
17. However, consumers' interests would be better 
served if compulsory preventive distillation were to be 
geared to the maintenance of quality and cover mainly 
those wines which require some 'correction' before being 
put on the market. 
18. The Commission itself acknowledges (Guidelines 
for European agriculture) that the Community's vine 
growers are already subject to heavy constraints (ban on 
new plantings, compulsory deliveries, obligatory 
distillation to improve quality, curb on 'guaranteed 
outlets'), and the Committee accordingly wonders 
whether the relative price of distillation should be revised 
with a view to preventing an inordinately heavy burden 
on vine growers' incomes. 
19. The Committee closes by stressing that these 
distillation measures are a complex means of intervention 
which, to be effective, will have to be implemented within 
3. 5. 82 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 112/33 
a tight time schedule (which in practice is not always 
feasible). Furthermore, an inordinate amount of 
administrative work is entailed in determining the 
individual rates and in attendant monitoring 
procedures. 
Increase in the alcohol content 
20. The Commission views the across-the-board 
increase of 0-5° in the alcohol content for all 
vine-growing areas as a step towards improving quality 
and curbing production. 
21. The Committee cannot endorse this view. On the 
one hand, it feels that the alcohol content is not the only 
aspect of quality to be taken into account and, on the 
other, it believes that, before any decisions are taken, a 
technical study should be made of each individual area, 
and the question of sugaring should be resolved. 
Done at Brussels, 25 February 1982. Tigtening-up of monitoring procedures 
22. The Committee emphasizes that the success of the 
measures to stiffen the regulations governing the market 
in table wine is heavily dependent upon the establishment 
of rigorous monitoring procedures. 
23. The Committee accordingly urges the 
Commission to submit as soon'as possible its proposal 
concerning the setting-up or expansion of specialist 
services with responsibility for monitoring all the 
operations involved in the production and preparation of 
wines in Member States. 
Additional measures 
24. As Greece is now a member of the Community and 
the accession of Spain and Portugal is imminent, the 
Committee feels that it has now become imperative to 
bring forward the start of the marketing year from its 
current date of 16 December. The Committee 
accordingly urges the Commission to make the requisite 
arrangements in this connection. 
The Chairman of 
the Economic and Social Committee 
Tomas ROSEINGRAVE 
ANNEX 
to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee 
REJECTED AMENDMENTS 
The following amendments, tabled in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, were rejected in the course 
of the Committee's debate: 
Point 4 
Replace the last sentence with: 
'In cases where there are no excise duties on wine, harmonization would have to be achieved by this 
means.' 
Reason 
To clarify matters. 
Voting 
For: 17; against: 64; abstentions: 15. 
Points 16 and 17 
Add the following at the end of point 16: 
'Past experience in managing the wine market provides abundant proof that the imposition of 
compulsory, low-cost measures, which depress growers' profits, has not produced satisfactory 
results. 
What might however be accepted is preventive distillation at the start of the marketing year provided it 
were optional and the price sufficiently attractive.' 
Delete the word 'compulsory' before 'preventive distillation' in line 2, leaving the rest unchanged. 
No C 112/34 Official Journal of the European Communities 3. 5. 82 
Reason 
To attempt to resolve the problems of alternative products and the resultant cyclical surpluses in 
Community wine production as the Commission proposes to do by extending compulsory preventive 
distillation to 50 % of the value of the product is not merely an unacceptable anomaly; it seems liable to be 
difficult to put into effect. 
It would, after all, entail determining and monitoring the quotas to be assigned to the individual growers in 
the face of marked shortcomings in the administrative machinery. 
Distillation as stipulated in Article 15 would prove a more efficient preventive measure to restore 
profitability to the wine market, provided it were implemented right from the start of the marketing year as 
soon as the results of the Community budget indicate a cyclical surplus. 
Voting 
For: 17; against: 55; abstentions: 21. 
Opinion on the proposals for: 
— a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 on the common 
organization of the market in fruit and vegetables as regards producer organizations 
— a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 on the common 
organization of the market in fruit and vegetables 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 281 of 4 November 1981, pages 3 to 5. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 28 October 1981 the Council referred the abovementioned proposals to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Article 43 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 195th 
plenary session held in Brussels on 24 and 25 February 1982. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 
thereof, 
Having regard to the request made by the Council of the 
European Communities on 28 October 1981 for an 
opinion on the proposal for a Regulation amending 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 on the common 
organization of the market in fruit and vegetables as 
regards producer organizations, and the proposal for a 
Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 
1035/72 on the common organization of the market in 
fruit and vegetables, 
Having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 
27 October 1981 instructing the Section for Agriculture 
to prepare an opinion on the matter, 
Having regard to its previous work on the matter, Having regard to the opinion adopted by the Section for 
Agriculture at its 232nd meeting held on 4 and 5 February 
1982 (meeting of 4 February), 
Having regard to the report made by the rapporteur, Mr 
Paggi, 
Having regard to the discussions at its 195th plenary 
session held on 24 and 25 February 1982 (meeting of 
25 February), 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
by 70 votes to 27, with 10 abstentions: 
1. Preliminary remarks 
1.1. The Committee wishes to point out first of all 
that the proposed Regulations on which it has been 
consulted are just one facet of the reform of Community 
rules and regulations in preparation for the further