Commission Regulation (EC) No 2464/2001 of 14 December 2001 amending Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000 laying down detailed rules for implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 on the common organisation of the market in wine with regard to market mechanisms
Date: 2001-12-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: application of EU law, common organisation of markets, vinification, viticulture

15.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 331/25

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2464/2001

of 14 December 2001

amending Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000 laying down detailed rules for implementing Council
Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 on the common organisation of the market in wine with regard to
market mechanisms

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

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 26, 33, 36 and 37 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Articles 52 to 57 of Commission Regulation (EC) No
1623/2000 (3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
2047/2001 (4), lay down rules on wine obtained from
grapes of varieties classified as both wine-grape varieties
and varieties for other uses. Those rules must be
adjusted to the real situation currently applying on the
market and must be brought up to date.

Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 provides that the part of
such wine not regarded as normally produced should be
distilled. To avoid any doubt in application, the defini-
tion of that quantity should also be laid down explicitly.

As regards wine obtained from grapes of varieties classi-
fied as both wine-grape varieties and varieties for the
production of spirits distilled from wine with a designa-
tion of origin, the quantity of such wine regarded as
normally produced is to be adjusted in some regions to
in production of
take account of the significant fall
spirits distilled from wine in those regions. However,
that adjustment is limited to two wine years because it is
planned to conduct an in-depth study of the operation
of this system in the regions concerned.

As regards regions that are major producers of these
wines and, as a result, are likely to distil large quantities
of wine, in order to facilitate the operation of the system
and control at Community level, the quantity of wine to
be distilled should be determined at regional level and
details of proper application of the obligation to distil by
individual producers left to the Member States. In that
case, firstly, distillation should therefore not be triggered

(1) OJ L 179, 14.7.1999, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 328, 23.12.2000, p. 2.
(3) OJ L 194, 31.7.2000, p. 45.
(4) OJ L 276, 19.10.2001, p. 15.

until the total production intended for wine-making of
the region exceeds the total quantity normally produced
in the region, and secondly, to ensure that this different
system can be applied by the Member States, to allow a
difference between the aggregate of individual obliga-
tions and the total regional quantity to be distilled.

(5)

Lastly, some articles need to be reworded.

(6)

Since the measures provided for do not affect the rights
of the operators concerned and must cover the entire
wine year, they must be implemented from the begin-
ning of the current wine year.

(7)

The Management Committee for Wine has not delivered
an opinion within the time limit set by its chairman,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Articles 52 to 57 of Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000 are
replaced by the following:

‘Article 52

Determination of quantity normally produced

1.
In the case of wine obtained from grapes of varieties
classified as both wine-grape varieties and varieties for
other uses as referred to in Article 28 of Regulation (EC)
No 1493/1999, the total quantity normally produced shall
be determined for each region concerned.

The total quantity normally produced shall comprise:

— wine products intended for the production of table
wine and wine suitable for yielding table wine,

— must intended for the production of concentrated must
and rectified concentrated must for the purposes of
enrichment,

— must intended for the production of liqueur wines with

a designation of origin,

— wine products for the production of spirits distilled

from wine with a designation of origin.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

15.12.2001

The reference period shall cover the following wine years:

— 1974/75 to 1979/80 in the Community of Ten,

— 1978/79 to 1983/84 in Spain and Portugal,

— 1988/89 to 1993/94 in Austria.

However,
in the case of wine obtained from grapes of
varieties classified as both wine-grape varieties and varieties
for the production of spirits distilled from wine with a
designation of origin, the total quantity normally produced
in the region during that reference period shall be reduced
by the quantities that have been the subject of distillation
other than that to produce spirits distilled from wine with a
designation of origin in that period. Moreover, where the
quantity normally produced in the region is over 5
million hl, this total quantity normally produced shall be
reduced by 1,4 million hl for the 2001/02 and 2002/03
wine years.

2.
In the regions referred to in paragraph 1, the quantity
normally produced per hectare shall be set by the Member
States concerned by determining for the same reference
period referred to in that paragraph the portion of wine
obtained from grapes of varieties classified in the same
administrative unit as both wine-grape varieties and vari-
eties for other uses.

From the 1998/1999 wine year, as regards wine obtained
from grapes of varieties classified in the same adminis-
trative unit as both wine-grape varieties and varieties for
the production of spirits from wine with a designation of
origin, the Member States shall be authorised to allow
producers who have received premiums from the 1997/98
wine year for the permanent abandonment of part of their
vine-growing areas as provided for in Article 8 of Regula-
tion (EC) No 1493/1999 to maintain, for the five wine
years following grubbing, the quantity normally produced
at the level

it stood at before grubbing.

Article 53

Determination of the quantity of wine to be distilled

1.
All producers subject to the distillation obligation
under Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 shall
have distilled the total quantity of
their production
intended for wine-making less their quantity normally
produced as defined in Article 52(2) and their quantity of
exports out of the Community during the wine year in
question.

In addition, producers may deduct from the quantity to be
distilled resulting from that
calculation a maximum
quantity of 10 hl.

2. Where the quantity normally produced is greater than
5 million hl, the total quantity of wine to be distilled under
Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 shall be deter-

mined by the Member State for each region concerned. It
shall comprise the total quantity intended for wine-making
less the total quantity normally produced as defined in
Article 52 and the quantity of wine exported from the
Community in the wine year in question.

In those regions:

— the Member State shall apportion the total quantity of
wine to be distilled in the region concerned among the
individual wine producers in that region in accordance
with objective criteria and without discrimination and
shall

inform the Commission thereof,

— distillation shall be authorised only if the total quantity
intended for wine-making in the region in the wine year
concerned exceeds the total quantity normally produced
in the region concerned,

— for each wine year a difference of 200 000 hectolitres
shall be allowed between the regional quantity to be
distilled and the aggregate individual quantities.

Article 54

Dates of delivery of wine for distillation

The wine shall be delivered to an approved distiller not
later than 15 July of the wine year concerned.

In cases covered by Article 68 of this Regulation, the wine
shall be delivered to an approved maker of wine fortified
for distillation not later than 15 June of the wine year
concerned.

To deduct wine from the quantity to be distilled, the wine
shall be exported from the Community not later than 15
July of the wine year concerned.

Article 55

Buying-in price

1. Within three months of delivery to the distillery distil-
lers shall pay the producers the buying-in price referred to
in Article 28(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 for the
quantity delivered. That price shall apply to bulk merchan-
dise ex producer's premises.

2.
In the case of wine obtained from grapes of varieties
classified as both wine-grape varieties and varieties for the
production of spirits distilled from wine,
in accordance
with Article 28(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999, the
Member States may vary the buying-in price paid to the
producers subject to the distillation obligation as a function
of yield per hectare. The provisions adopted by the Member
States shall ensure that the average price actually paid for
all wine distilled is EUR 1,34/% vol/hl.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 331/27

Article 56

Aid to be paid to distillers

The aid provided for in Article 28(5)(a) of Regulation (EC)
No 1493/1999 shall be fixed, in terms of alcoholic strength
by volume per hectolitre of product obtained from distilla-
tion, as follows:

(a) neutral alcohol:

(b) spirits distilled from wine, raw alcohol

and wine distillate:

EUR 0,7728

EUR 0,6401

Where use is made of
the possibility of varying the
buying-in price in accordance with Article 55(2), the aid
referred to in the first paragraph shall vary by an equivalent
amount.

No aid shall be payable on alcohol obtained from quantities
of wine delivered for distillation that exceed by more than
2 % the amount which the producer must have distilled
under Article 53 of this Regulation.

Article 57

Exceptions to the prohibition on movement of wine

Where a derogation is granted under Article 28(1) of Regu-
lation (EC) No 1493/1999, wine covered by that Article
may be moved to:

(a) a customs office for completion of customs export
formalities followed by departure from the customs
territory of the Community, or

(b) the premises of an approved maker of wine fortified for

distillation with a view to fortification.’

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 1 August 2001.

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

Done at Brussels, 14 December 2001.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission