28. 7. 77 Official  Journal  of the European  Communities No C 180/27 
4. Moreover,  the  Committee  considers  that  the 
present  proposal  should  make  express  provisions  for 
controls  in all areas  covered  by Community  rules, 
especially  planting.  This  seems  to be the case  when 
one reads  the  title  of the  proposal,  but  no  such 
provision  is made  in any  of the Articles. 
5. The  Committee  believes  that  the  conditions 
under  which  the  operations  involved  in preparing 
and storing  wines  are controlled  should  be aligned. 
This  should  include  access  to the cellars  and  offices 
of the establishments  concerned. 
Done  at Brussels,  22 June  1977. The Committee  considers  that  the  limits  placed  on 
the activities  of such  cellars  and  establishments  in 
the various  Member  States  should  all be aligned,  so 
as to make  monitoring  easier.  When  rules  differ, 
this often  leads  to higher  costs  for some  and  lower 
costs  for  others,  and,  consequently,  distortions  of 
competition. 
6. Finally,  the Committee  feels  that  the Commission 
must  be involved  more  in implementing  the proposed 
measures. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic  and  Social  Committee 
Basil  de FERRANTI 
Opinion  on the  proposal  for  a Council  Regulation  amending  Regulation  (EEC)  No 
816/70  laying  down  additional  provisions  for 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 124  of 26 May  1977,  page  4. 
A. LEGAL  BASIS  FOR  THE  OPINION 
On 16 May  1977,  the Council  referred  the abovementioned  proposal  to the Economic 
and Social  Committee  in accordance  with  Articles  43 and  198  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 
150th  plenary  session,  held  in Brussels  on 22 and  23 June  1977. 
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 
Articles  43 and  198  thereof, 
Having  regard  to the  Council's  request  for  an 
opinion  of 16 May  1977, 
Having  regard  to its decision  of 22 June  1977,  in 
view  of the urgent  nature  of the matter,  to appoint 
a rapporteur-general  in accordance  with  Article  18 
of the Rules  of Procedure, Having  regard  to the  oral  report  made  by  the 
rapporteur-general,  Mr De Grave, 
Having  regard  to the discussions  at its 150th  plenary 
session  held  on 22 and  23 June  1977  (meeting  of 
22 June), 
HAS  UNANIMOUSLY  ADOPTED  THE  FOLLOWING 
OPINION: 
The Committee  approves  the Commission's  proposal, 
subject  to the following  comments, 
No C 180/28 Official  Journal  of the European  Communities 28. 7. 77 
1. Establishment  of a weighted  average  price 
(Article  1) 
The Committee  points  out  that  Regulation  (EEC) 
No 816/70,  which  was  applicable  up to the  1975 
harvest,  allowed  the  Community  to intervene  on the 
market  on the  basis  of prices  recorded  at one  place. 
In 1976,  this  system,  which  seemed  too  lax,  was 
replaced  by  Regulation  (EEC)  No  1160/76.  This 
introduced  a new  system  which  proved  to be so 
restrictive  that  the  Community's  intervention 
machinery  was  made  inoperable. 
The Commission  therefore  presented  the  present 
proposal  on which  the Committee  has  the following 
reservations: 
(a) The  distinction  between  different  types  of table 
wine  drawn  in Article  1 (a) and  (b) is unjustified. 
(b) The  system  us^d  for  calculating  the  Community 
weighted  average  price  will  not  enable  the 
Commission's  aims  to be achieved. 
The Committee  asks  the  Commission  to reconsider 
its proposed  method  for  calculating  the  weighted 
average  price  from  the following  angles. 
A weighted  average  price  for  each  Member  State 
should  be established  for each  type  of table  wine  by 
taking  the average  of the lowest  prices  asked  for 25 °/o 
of the volume  sold  on the representative  markets. 
The Community  weighted  average  price  would 
be found  by weighting  the  above  prices  by  the 
production  of each  Member  State. 
2. Aid  for  the  storage  of musts  (Articles  2 and  3) 
On the whole,  the Committee  agrees  with  the system 
proposed,  providing  that:  (i) it is stated  that  the 
short-term  contracts  referred  to in the  first  indent 
of Articles  2 (1)  and  3 (1)  may  be renewed  for 
periods  of three  months  until  the  end  of the marketing  year;  (ii) the  conclusion  of such  contracts 
for the  storage  of musts  is linked  to the  conclusion 
of short-term  contracts  for the storage  of table  wines 
or to a decision  to carry  out preventive  distillation. 
3. Preventive  distillation  (Article  4) 
Generally  speaking,  the  Committee  feels  that  the 
volumes  of wine  mentioned  in points  (a),  (b) and  (c) 
are too high.  This  may  slow  up preventive  distillation. 
The Economic  and  Social  Committee  has emphasized 
on many  occasions  that  it should  be possible  to carry 
out preventive  distillation  as soon  as possible  after 
the beginnnig  of the marketing  years.  This  would  be 
more  efficient  and  would  certainly  reduce  EAGGF 
expenditure. 
Moreover,  the distillation  price  should  offer  a greater 
incentive  than  that  at present  proposed,  especially  in 
the case  of table  wines.  At present,  it is set at 55 °/o 
of the  guide  price  for  the lowest  category  of wine. 
The Committee  considers  that  a single  price  for 
table  wines  and  wines  suitable  for  yielding  table 
wines  as proposed  by the Commission  is unjustified. 
4. Rules  covering  acidification  (Articles  6 and  7) 
The Committee  considers  that  special  precautions 
should  be taken  here,  since  the acidification  of table 
wines  may  make  certain  fraudulent  practices  easier. 
In particular,  acidification  of table  wine  should  only 
be permissible  at production  level. 
5. Rules  for importing  certain  products  (Article  9) 
The Committee  thinks  that  the amendment  proposed 
is inadvisable.  It would  be preferable  to keep  to the 
rules  at present  in force.  These  provide  the  best 
guarantees  as regards  the  quality  of these  products, 
which  also  benefit  from  highly-favourable  tariff 
conditions  on the part  of the Community. 
Done  at Brussels,  22 June  1977. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic  and  Social  Committee 
Basil  de FERRANTI