Commission Regulation (EC) No 2367/1999 of 5 November 1999 introducing preventive distillation as provided for in Article 38 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 for the 1999/2000 wine year
Date: 1999-11-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: agricultural quota, distillation, quantitative restriction, table wine

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Official Journal of the European Communities

6. 11. 1999

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2367/1999

of 5 November 1999

introducing preventive distillation as provided for in Article 38 of Council Regulation (EEC) No
822/87 for the 1999/2000 wine year

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

(4)

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 of 16
March 1987 on the common organisation of the market in
wine (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1677/1999 (2),
and in particular Article 38(5) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2721/88 (3), as last
amended by Regulation (EEC) No 26/92 (4), lays down
detailed rules for voluntary distillation as provided for in
Articles 38, 41 and 42 of Regulation (EEC) No 822/87.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1681/1999 (5) fixes the
prices, the aid and certain other factors applicable to
preventive distillation for the 1999/2000 wine year;

in view of the level of end-of-year stocks, the harvest
forecasts and the difficulties on certain markets,
it is
necessary to provide rapidly for preventive distillation.
The data on supplies are however still
incomplete.
Preventive distillation should therefore be opened and an
overall volume should be fixed for the Community and
broken down by production region, without however
precluding the possibility of adapting these volumes
once the full data on supplies are known. The volume
should be fixed at 10 000 000 hectolitres of table wine.
The economic situation of wines may vary in the
different production areas of a Member State. The
authorities of the Member States should therefore be
allowed to allocate different quantities
to different
production areas.
In order to prevent discrimination
between producers, the Commission should be informed
as to how this allocation is justified by the particular
conditions on the wine market in the different produc-
tion areas and must be able to comment on such alloca-
tions;

given the low yields obtained in Spanish and Portuguese
wine-growing areas, a different volume for products
obtained from grapes harvested in Portugal and a
maximum percentage of production which can be
distilled in the case of products obtained from grapes
harvested in the Spanish wine-growing zone C should be
set so as to give comparable results in terms of a
percentage of production for the entire Community.
Considering that there are no data on supplies of table

wine in Austria, Germany and Luxembourg, a specific
regime should be set for these countries;

to apply this Regulation it is necessary to know the areas
cultivated for production in order to determine the
quantity which producers may have distilled. A large
number of Greek producers do not have the necessary
data owing to the administration's delay in introducing
the planned administrative structures. So that the above-
mentioned producers are not prevented from qualifying
under the measure, provision should be made for the
reference areas to be determined on the basis of a flat-
rate yield for Greece as a whole;

in order to increase the efficiency of
this measure,
application should be extended to a period long enough
to take account of the time required to make wine in
certain regions, and contracts or declarations should be
approved rapidly up to a certain level to enable growers
and distillers who so wish to start deliveries and distilla-
tion as early as possible. Proper performance of the
contracts and declarations signed by the producers
should also be ensured by means of a security which will
guarantee delivery of wine to a distillery;

whereas Member States should be required promptly to
communicate to the Commission the quantities for
which contracts have been signed so that the Commis-
sion may set a single acceptance rate for contracts or
declarations submitted if the overall quantity applied for
throughout
the Community exceeds the 10 000 000
hectolitres provided for;

with a view to the sound management of the quantities
in question,
it is necessary to derogate from specific
provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 2721/88 and to
provide that the quantities applied for in the contracts
and declarations may be reduced;

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

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

(1) OJ L 84, 27.3.1987, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 199, 30.7.1999, p. 8.
(3) OJ L 241, 1.9.1988, p. 88.
(4) OJ L 3, 8.1.1992, p. 14.
(5) OJ L 199, 30.7.1999, p. 15.

1.
Preventive distillation of table wine and of wine suitable
for yielding table wine as provided for in Article 38 of Regula-
tion (EEC) No 822/87 is hereby introduced for the 1999/2000
wine year.

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Distillation shall be restricted to 10 000 000 hectolitres.

This quantity shall be broken down by production region as
referred to in Article 4 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No
441/88 (1) as follows:

The area to be used when calculting the quantity of table
2.
wine or wine suitable for yielding table wine which greek
producers may have distilled shall be obtained by dividing by
57 the quantity given as wine in the table wine column of the
production declaration presented pursuant to Regulation (EC)
No 1294/96.

(hectolitres)

3.
Notwithstanding Article 6(1) of Regulation (EEC) No
2721/88, producers who have produced table wine or wine
suitable for yielding table wine may submit, not later than 28
January 2000, a preventive distillation contract or declaration
to the competent authorities of the Member State, giving the
details specified in article 6(2) of that Regulation.

Region 1 (Germany)

Region 2 (Luxembourg)

Region 3 (France)

Region 4 (Italy)

Region 5 (Greece)

Region 6 (Spain)

Region 7 (Portugal)

Austria

148 000

8 000

2 098 000

4 000 000

248 000

3 050 000

300 000

148 000

in their

The Member States may allocate the reserved quantity among
the different production areas
territory, without
excluding any specific areas from application of the measure.
Within one month following the entry into force of this Regu-
lation, they shall forward to the Commission the list of produc-
tion regions and the quantity allocated to each, explaining the
specific production conditions which warrant this breakdown.
The Commission shall, where necessary, make comments on
the breakdown and inform the Member State concerned
thereof within two weeks.

The quantity of table wine or of wine suitable for yielding table
wine which producers may have distilled in accordance with
Regulation (EEC) No 2721/88 shall be limited to 30 hectolitres
per hectare.

However,
for products obtained from grapes harvested in
Portugal, this quantity shall be limited to 21 hectolitres per
hectare and, for products obtained from grapes harvested in
the Spanish wine-growing zone C, this quantity shall be limited
to 40 % of the table wine produced from these products by
each producer.

Notwithstanding Article 2(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2721/88,
the quantity of table wine or wine suitable for yielding table
wine obtained from grapes harvested in Luxembourg, Germany
and Austria that producers may have distilled shall be limited
solely to a percentage of their production of table wine. This
percentage is fixed at 40 %.

The quantity of table wine produced to which the percentages
referred to in the preceding sixth and seventh subparagraphs
apply shall be, for each producer, that resulting from the sum
of the quantities appearing as wine in the table wine column of
the production declaration presented pursuant to Commission
Regulation (EC) No 1294/96 (2) where so required.

Contracts and declarations must be accompanied by proof that
a security equal to EUR 5 per hectolitre has been lodged.

4.
Notwithstanding Article 6(3) and (4) of Regulation (EEC)
No 2721/88, the Member States may authorise the approval of
contracts or declarations as soon as they are submitted, for a
quantity not exceeding half of the quantity specified in each
contract or declaration, without prejudice to the application of
Article 2(2) of that Regulation. For the purposes of applying
Article 8(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2045/89 (3) the
partial approval of contracts or declarations referred to above
and partial approval as referred to in Article 1(6) of
this
Regulation may be treated as separate contracts and declara-
tions. In such cases, in compliance with article 9 of Regulation
(EEC) No 2046/89 and notwithstanding Article 9(2) of Regula-
tion (EEC) No 2721/88, the Member States may authorise
release of the security covering the first partial contract as soon
as proof has been supplied that the producer has been paid the
minimum purchase price.

5.
The Member States shall inform the Commission of the
total volume covered by preventive distillation contracts or
declarations not later than 11 February 2000.

If the overall volume covered by contracts or declarations
submitted exceeds 10 000 000 hectolitres and/or the volume
established in advance for one or more regions, the Commis-
sion shall fix the single acceptance rate to be applied to all
contracts and declarations for each region and shall notify each
Member State thereof by fax not later than 18 February 2000.
In order to ensure that maximum use is made of the overall
volume of 10 000 000 hectolitres in the event that the overall
volume is exceeded while all or part of the volume allocated to
one or more specific regions remains unused, the Commission
shall distribute the remaining available volume for that region
or those regions among the other regions before fixing the
single acceptance rate for each region, using the following
method:

— if available, an initial instalment of not more than 25 000
hectolitres, as needed, to each region which has exceeded
its volume, and

— the remainder in proportion to the quantities fixed in the

third subparagraph of paragraph 1.

(1) OJ L 45, 18.2.1988, p. 15.
(2) OJ L 166, 5.7.1996, p. 14.

(3) OJ L 202, 14.7.1989, p. 14.

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Notwithstanding Article 6(1) of Regulation (EEC) No
6.
2721/88, Member States shall take the administrative measures
necessary to approve the above contracts and declarations with
the single acceptance rate not later than 10 March 2000, for
the quantities not yet approved when the contracts or declara-
tions were submitted.

Securities shall be released for quantities applied for and not
accepted.

Quantities covered by contracts and declarations must be

7.
delivered to the distillery by 30 June 2000.

8.
The security shall be released for the quantities delivered
when the producer presents proof of delivery to a distillery.

If no deliveries have taken place within the time limit, the
security shall be forfeited.

9. Member States may restrict the number of contracts or
declarations a producer may sign for the distillation operation
concerned.

Article 2

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

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

Done at Brussels, 5 November 1999.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission