Commission Regulation (EC) No 443/2001 of 2 March 2001 amending Regulation (EC) No 2728/2000 opening crisis distillation as provided for in Article 30 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 in certain wine-growing regions of Germany
Date: 2001-03-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Germany, contract, distillation, purchase price, quantitative restriction, wine

L 63/54

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

3.3.2001

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 443/2001

of 2 March 2001

amending Regulation (EC) No 2728/2000 opening crisis distillation as provided for in Article 30 of
Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 in certain wine-growing regions of Germany

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 of 17
May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in
wine (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2826/2000 (2),
and in particular Articles 30 and 33 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2728/2000 (3) opened
crisis distillation as provided for in Article 30 of Regula-
tion (EC) No 1493/1999 for a maximum of 1 million
hectolitres of white table wine and white quality wines
psr of all vine varieties grown in certain wine-growing
regions in Germany.

According to the information received from the German
authorities, no distillation contracts had been signed by
31 January 2001 between producers and distillers. The
lack of distilleries in the wine-producing regions, and the
ensuing high transport costs, have prevented the distil-
lers, who have relatively small premises, from signing
contracts within the margins imposed by the prices laid
down in Articles 5 and 6 of Regulation (EC) No 2728/
2000.

To make the application of the crisis distillation measure
in Germany possible once more, it is proposed that the
authorities concerned be allowed to derogate from
Article 65(6) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1623/
2000 of 25 July 2000 laying down detailed rules for
implementing Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 on the
common organisation of the market in wine with regard
to market mechanisms (4), as last amended by Regula-
tion (EC) No 2786/2000 (5), which lays down the condi-
tions for paying the minimum purchase price to produ-
cers. Instead of applying these prices to bulk merchan-
dise ex producer's premises, a derogation could allow
these authorities
its application to
to provide for
merchandise ex-distiller's premises.

(1) OJ L 179, 14.7.1999, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 328, 23.12.2000, p. 2.
(3) OJ L 316, 15.12.2000, p. 14.
(4) OJ L 194, 31.7.2000, p. 45.
(5) OJ L 323, 20.12.2000, p. 4.

The German authorities have also re-evaluated the
market situation between the point at which the initial
application was made to open crisis distillation for a
maximum one million hectolitres and the present.
According to their evaluation it would be more appro-
priate to fix this quantity, at this point of the current
marketing year, at 500 000 hectolitres.

(5)

(6)

Several dates in the Regulation relating to the period for
signing contracts, for the approval of contracts, and for
the quantities of wine
notifying the Commission of
covered by contracts should also be amended.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 2728/2000 is hereby amended as follows:

1.

2.

3.

in Article 1, the figure ‘1 million hectolitres’ is replaced by
‘500 000 hectolitres’;

in Article 3, the date ‘16 December 2000’ is replaced by ‘5
March 2001’ and the date ‘31 January 2001’ is replaced by
‘6 April 2001’;

in Article 4(2), the date ‘15 February 2001’ is replaced by
‘20 April 2001’ and the date ‘20 February 2001’ is replaced
by ‘27 April 2001’;

4. the following sentence is added to Article 5:

‘Notwithstanding Article 65(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1623/
2000 the German authorities may allow, where needed to
ensure application of this measure, the above price to apply
to bulk merchandise ex-distiller's premises.’

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 5 March 2001.

3.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 63/55

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

Done at Brussels, 2 March 2001.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission