Commission Regulation (EC) No 720/2002 of 26 April 2002 fixing a percentage for acceptance of contracts concluded for the optional distillation of table wine and suspending the notification of new contracts for the optional distillation of table wine
Date: 2002-04-26
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: common organisation of markets, distillation, table wine, vinification, viticulture

27.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 112/3

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 720/2002

of 26 April 2002

fixing a percentage for acceptance of contracts concluded for the optional distillation of table wine
and suspending the notification of new contracts for the optional distillation of table wine

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(3)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000
of 25 July 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 (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2464/
2001 (2), and in particular Article 63(6) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Article 63 of Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000 lays down
the conditions for the application of
the distillation
arrangements for wines referred to in Article 29 of
last
Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 (3), as
amended by Regulation (EC) No 2585/2001 (4). Those
arrangements provide for subsidised, voluntary distilla-
tion in order to support the wine market and help
ensure continued supplies to the potable alcohol sector,
which traditionally uses this type of alcohol. To that
end, wine producers and distillers conclude contracts,
which the Member States notify to the Commission
twice a month.

contracts

Article 63(6) lays down the conditions under which the
Commission must
intervene in the contract-approval
procedure, setting a single percentage for acceptance of
the
and/or
suspending the notification of new contracts, where the
available budgetary resources or the absorption capacity
of the potable alcohol sector are exceeded or may be
exceeded.

distillation

concluded

for

For the 2001/2002 wine year the Commission has, for
budgetary reasons and bearing in mind the absorption
capacity of the potable alcohol sector, managed this
distillation in quantitatively limited tranches. The third
tranche was opened from 1 April 2002 by Commission
Regulation (EC) No 378/2002 (5) opening a third
tranche of distillation as provided for in Article 29 of
Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 for the 2001/2002 wine
year. Contracts can be concluded under this tranche for
a maximum of 2 million hl of table wine. On the basis
of the quantities of wine for which the Member States
notified new distillation contracts to the Commission on
22 April 2002, the Commission notes that that limit has
been exceeded. The Commission should therefore set a
single percentage for acceptance of the quantities noti-
fied for distillation and suspend the notification of new
contracts,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
Contracts concluded and notified to the Commission
under Article 63(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000 on 22
April 2002 shall be accepted for 57,23 % of the wine covered.

2.
Notification to the Commission of new contracts under
Article 63(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000 is hereby
suspended.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publica-
tion 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, 26 April 2002.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 194, 31.7.2000, p. 45.
(2) OJ L 331, 15.12.2001, p. 25.
(3) OJ L 179, 14.7.1999, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 345, 29.12.2001, p. 10.

(5) OJ L 60, 1.3.2002, p. 22.