Commission Regulation (EC) No 583/98 of 13 March 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2641/88 laying down detailed rules for the application of the aid scheme for the use of grapes, grape must and concentrated grape must to produce grape juice
Date: 1998-03-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: aid system, fruit juice, fruit product, grape, production aid

L 77/14

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Official Journal of the European Communities

14. 3. 98

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 583/98

of 13 March 1998

amending Regulation (EEC) No 2641/88 laying down detailed rules for the
application of the aid scheme for the use of grapes, grape must and concentrated
grape must to produce grape juice

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 of
the
16 March 1987 on the common organisation of
market in wine (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
2087/97 (2), and in particular Article 46(5) thereof,

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2641/88 (3),
as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2122/95 (4), lays
down detailed rules for the application of the aid scheme
for the use of grape must to produce grape juice; whereas
pursuant to that Regulation the product eligible for the
payment of the aid is grape juice intended for direct
human consumption; whereas that grape juice may be
mixed with other products before packaging; whereas
experience has shown that the products obtained by such
mixing in which grape juice is used as the basic product
should be specified; whereas the category of products in
which grape juice, whether or not concentrated, is used as
such may include only non-alcoholic drinks;

Whereas eligibility for aid is conditional on submission of
a written statement by the processor concerning the work
which he will undertake to produce grape juice; whereas
that requirement is necessary to ensure the proper opera-
tion of the aid scheme and checks; whereas, in order to
avoid administrative management which is excessively
burdensome both for the processors and for the adminis-
tration,
should not be
required from processors using a limited quantity of
grapes or grape must each year; whereas that quantity
should be laid down; whereas the processors in question
should nevertheless inform the responsible authorities of
their Member State, at the beginning of the marketing
year, of their intention to process a certain quantity of
grapes or grape must;

that prior written statement

Whereas Articles 6, 7 and 11 of that Regulation refer to
the ‘bottler’; whereas current practice in trade in grape
juice shows that the product is also sold to intermediary
firms who store it before selling it to bottlers; whereas

(1) OJ L 84, 27. 3. 1987, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 292, 25. 10. 1997, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 236, 26. 8. 1988, p. 25.
(4) OJ L 212, 7. 9. 1995, p. 7.

to mix them with other

there are also firms which purchase the juices from
processors
juices or other
products to manufacture non-alcoholic drinks; whereas
that situation should be taken into account and provision
made for such operators by using the term ‘user’ and
defining it;

Whereas, in cases where the processor is not himself the
user of the product in question, it is not always clear to
the checking authorities, particularly when they are
located in a Member State other
the
processor, whether the product is grape must which has
not yet benefited from aid pursuant to this Regulation or
grape juice in respect of which aid has already been
applied for; whereas there should be provision for the
document accompanying transport of
in
question to show whether an application for aid has been
made;

than that of

the product

is clear that

Whereas checks should be carried out on the prepared
grape juices up to the bottling stage; whereas, in cases
where these juices are mixed with other products, the
checks may be carried out at the mixing stage only, when
it
the
products being used for wine-making; whereas provision
should be made for an appropriate procedure for ensuring
that such a mixture exists; whereas, where the grape juice
is consigned to a storage firm, check should be carried out
to ensure that it is then sent to a bottler or a manufacturer
of non-alcoholic drinks;

there is no further possibiltiy of

Whereas Article 9(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2641/88
the aid no later than three
provides for payment of
months after receipt of all the supporting documents;
whereas an administrative enquiry may be opened into
entitlement to the aid; whereas in that case payment may
not be made until entitlement to the aid has been recog-
nised; whereas the Regulation should be supplemented
accordingly;

Whereas this Regulation should apply to all operators
who so request in respect of applications for aid and/or
consignments of grape juice to bottling plants, manufac-
turers of products based on grape juice as defined in this
Regulation, and storage facilities, relating to the recent
past; whereas that period may concern only applications
for aid submitted and/or consignments dispatched from
the date when the questions underlying the amendments
in this Regulation were raised;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 77/15

Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are
in accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Wine,

3. in Article 6(1) and the fourth and fifth indents of

Article 11(2),

‘bottler’ is replaced by ‘user’;

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2641/88 is amended as follows:

1. the following paragraphs 3a and 3b are inserted in

Article 1:

For the purposes of

this Regulation, “mixed
‘3a.
with other products” means the mixture of grape juice,
whether or not concentrated and before being bottled,
packed or packaged, with other juices falling within
CN code 2009 to make juice mixtures and/or the
mixture of grape juice with other products such as
water, sugar or flavourings in order to manufacture
non-alcoholic drinks, products to serve as a base for
such drinks or concentrated non-alcoholic drinks in
the form of syrups. “Non-alcoholic drink” means any
drink with an actual alcoholic strength of not more
than 1,2 % vol.

For

the purposes of
any operator other

3b.
this Regulation,
“user”
than the grape-juice
means
processor who carries out one of the following opera-
tions; bottling, packing or packaging, storage for sale to
one or more firms carrying out these operations or
those that follow, or preparing, by mixture with other
products, non-alcoholic drinks or products to serve as a
base for the preparation of such drinks’;

2. the following paragraph 4 is inserted in Article 2:

‘4.
Processors who use in each marketing year no
more than 50 tonnes of grapes, 800 hl of grape must or
150 hl of concentrated grape must to prepare grape
juice are not required to make the statements referred
to in paragraphs 1 and 2. At the beginning of the
marketing year, they shall submit to the responsible
bodies a statement containing the following informa-
tion:

(a) the name or business name and address of the

processor;

(b) the following technical information:

— the type of raw materials (grapes, grape must or

concentrated grape must),

— the place of

storage of

the raw materials

intended for processing,

— the place where processing is to be carried out,

— the planned date of commencement and the

duration of the processing operations.’;

4. the first and second indents of Article 6(1) are replaced

by the following:

‘— the unpackaged quantities of grape juice entering
his premises each day, together with the name and
address of the consignor or processor,

— the unpackaged quantities of grape juice leaving
his premises each day, together with the name and
address of the consignee,

— the quantities of grape juice and/or grape juice
mixed with other products packaged each day,
together with the quantities of grape juice used in
making the products in question.’;

5. Article 7 is amended to read as follows:

‘Article 7

1.
If the processor does not himself undertake the
operations of mixing the grape juice with other
products pursuant to Article 1(3a) or bottling the juice,
mixed, where applicable, with other products, he shall
state in Section 10 of the accompanying document
referred to in Annex III to Regulation (EEC) No
2238/93 whether an application for aid in respect of
the processing of the grape must into this product has
been or will be made to the competent authorities
pursuant to this Regulation.

If

2.
the grape juices are dispatched within the
Community by the person who prepared them to a
bottler, the latter shall, within 15 days of receipt of the
product, send a copy of the accompanying document
to the responsible body or the department authorised
for this purpose at the place of unloading.

No later than 15 days after its receipt, the responsible
body or authorised department at the place of un-
loading shall send a duly stamped copy of the accom-
panying document to the processor or consignor of the
grape juice in question,

If

3.
the grape juices are dispatched within the
Community by the person who prepared them to a
firm manufacturing products as defined in Article
1(3a):

— the manufacturer of these products shall, not later
than 15 days after its receipt, send the document
accompanying the grape juices to the responsible
body or authorised department at
the place of
unloading,

— the control body or authorised department shall
stamp the accompanying documents referred to in
indent only where it has adequate as-
the first
surances that the grape juices concerned have actu-
ally been mixed with other products to manufac-
ture the drinks referred to in Article 1(3a).

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Official Journal of the European Communities

14. 3. 98

Where such assurances exist, no later than 15 days
after receipt of the accompanying document referred to
in this paragraph, the responsible body or authorised
department at the place of unloading shall send a duly
stamped copy to the processor or consignor of the
grape juice in question.

If

4.
the grape juices are dispatched within the
Community by the person who prepared them to a
storage firm before being bottled or used to manufac-
ture non-alcoholic drinks as defined in Article 1(3a):

— the storage firm shall, no later than 15 days after its
receipt,
send the document accompanying the
grape juices to the responsible body or authorised
department at the place of unloading,

— the control body or authorised department shall
not stamp the accompanying document referred to
in the first indent until it has the assurance that a
quantity at least equivalent to that of the consign-
referred to in this paragraph has been
ment
dispatched with an appropriate
accompanying
document
to a bottler or a firm manufacturing
non-alcoholic drinks as referred to in Article 1(3a)
and has been received by those users.

Where the conditions laid down in the second indent
of the first subparagraph are met and after receipt of

the accompanying document, the responsible body or
authorised department at the place of unloading shall
send a duly stamped copy of the accompanying docu-
ment referred to in the first indent to the processor or
consignor of the grape juice in question.’;

6. the existing second paragraph becomes paragraph 5;

7. the following sentence is added to Article 9(1):

‘If an administrative enquiry into entitlement to aid
has been opened, payment shall not be made until
entitlement has been established.’

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

At the reaquest of an operator, Article 1(1) and (5) of this
Regulation may be applied to aid applications and/or
consignments of grape juice covered by Article 7(2) to (4)
of Regulation (EEC) No 2641/88, as amended by this
Regulation, submitted or dispatched from 1 January 1997.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
States.

Done at Brussels, 13 March 1998.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission