Commission Regulation (EC) No 616/2005 of 21 April 2005 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: 2005-04-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: alcohol, award of contract, common organisation of markets, intervention agency, substitute fuel, vinification, viticulture

22.4.2005

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Official Journal of the European Union

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 616/2005

of 21 April 2005

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
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 of
17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in
wine (1), and in particular Article 33 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000 (2) provides
for a system of disposal by public sale of wine alcohol
for use as bio-ethanol
in the Community. In order to
enable the highest price offered by a tenderer to be
system
the public
such alcohol,
obtained for
should be replaced by a tendering system.

sale

To that end, the same rules should be applied to the
different types of disposal of wine alcohol, while the
characteristics necessary for each use or final destination
of the alcohol should be respected.

In order to check that the alcohol is to be used for the
production of bio-ethanol, Member States approve firms
which they deem eligible on the basis of their capacity,
the plants where the alcohol
is processed, their annual
processing capacity, and the certificates from the national
authorities of the Member State of the final purchaser
attesting that the final purchaser uses the alcohol only
to produce bio-ethanol and that the bio-ethanol is used
only in the fuel sector.

Sales by tender should be held each quarter, first in order
the alcohol stored by Member States’
to ensure that
intervention agencies is disposed of, and second in
order to provide some guarantee of supply for firms
established in the European Community which use
alcohol in the fuel sector.

The Member States should send information at the end
of each month on the quantities of wine, wine lees and
fortified wine which have been distilled in the previous
month, as well as the quantities of alcohol, broken down
into neutral alcohol, raw alcohol and spirits.

(6)

(7)

Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000 should be amended
accordingly.

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 1623/2000 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Articles 92 to 94 are replaced by:

‘Article 92

Opening tendering procedures

1.
The Commission, acting in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 75 of Regulation (EC)
No 1493/1999, may issue one or more invitations to
tender each quarter for alcohol to be used only in the fuel
sector, in the form of bio-ethanol, in the Community.

The quantities of alcohol awarded under such tendering
procedures shall not exceed 700 000 hectolitres of alcohol
at 100 % vol per procedure.

The alcohol shall be assigned to firms established in

2.
the Community and shall be used in the fuel sector.

To this end, Member States shall approve firms deemed
eligible by them which have submitted an application
accompanied by the following documents and information:

(a) a declaration by the firm stating that it is capable of

using at least 50 000 hl of alcohol a year;

(b) the location of the firm’s administrative offices;

(1) OJ L 179, 14.7.1999, p. 1. Regulation last amended by the 2003

Act of Accession.

(2) OJ L 194, 31.7.2000, p. 45. Regulation last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1774/2004 (OJ L 316, 15.10.2004, p. 61).

(c)

the place of establishment and a copy of the plans of the
plant where the alcohol is processed, and an indication
of the annual processing capacity;

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Official Journal of the European Union

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(d) a copy of the permit, granted by the national authorities
of the Member State concerned, to operate the plant; and

(e) certificates from the national authorities of the Member
the final
State of any final purchaser, attesting that
purchaser is able to use the alcohol only to produce
bio-ethanol and that the bio-ethanol will be used only
in the fuel sector.

Approval by a Member State shall be valid throughout

3.
the Community.

4.
Firms approved by the Commission at 1 March 2005
shall be considered to have been approved for the purposes
of this Regulation.

5. Member States shall
new approval or withdrawal of approval.

inform the Commission of any

The Commission shall regularly publish a list of the

6.
firms approved by the Member States.

Article 93

Notice of invitation to tender

the
Tenders shall reach the intervention agency of
3.
Member State concerned not later than 12 noon (Brussels
time) on the closing date set for the submission of tenders in
the notice of invitation to tender.

Tenders shall be valid only if proof is provided, before
4.
the closing date for
that a
the submission of
tendering security of EUR 4 per hectolitre of alcohol at
100 % vol has been lodged with the intervention agency
concerned in respect of the entire quantity of the lot put
up for sale.

tenders,

To that end, the intervention agencies concerned shall imme-
diately issue tenderers with a statement certifying that the
tendering security has been lodged for the quantities for
which each intervention agency is responsible.

For the purposes of the tendering security, the primary
5.
requirements within the meaning of Article 20 of Regulation
(EEC) No 2220/85 shall be that tenders are not withdrawn
after
their submission and that a
the closing date for
performance guarantee is lodged.

Article 94a

Notification concerning tenders

The notice of invitation to tender shall be published in the
Official Journal of the European Union.

Such notices shall specify:

Not more than two working days after the closing date for
the submission of tenders, the intervention agency concerned
shall submit to the Commission an anonymous list showing,
for each tender:

(a)

the special rules applicable to the tendering procedure
and the names and addresses of the intervention agencies
concerned;

(a)

the prices offered;

(b) the lots requested;

(b) the quantity of alcohol, expressed in hectolitres of
tendering

at 100 % vol,

covered by

the

alcohol
procedure;

(c)

the lots;

(d) the payment terms;

(e)

the formalities for obtaining samples;

(f)

the amount of
Article 94(4)
referred to in Article 94c(3).

the tendering security referred to in
guarantee
the performance
and of

Article 94

Rules applicable to tenders

1.
Tenderers may submit only one tender for each lot to
be awarded. If a tenderer submits more than one tender for
each lot, none of those tenders shall be admissible.

2.
To be eligible for consideration, tenders shall indicate
the Member State of final use of the alcohol awarded and
contain an undertaking by the tenderer to comply with that
destination.

(c)

the final destination of the alcohol.

Article 94b

Award of contracts

of

the

On

basis

1.
the
the
Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 75(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999,
shall decide as quickly as possible whether or not to award
contracts.

submitted,

tenders

2.
Should a contract be awarded, the Commission shall
accept the most favourable tender for each lot. If two or
more tenders quote the same price, the Commission shall
make the award by drawing lots.

3.
The Commission shall notify the decisions taken under
this Article only to those Member States and intervention
agencies holding alcohol
for which tenders have been
accepted.

4.
the
The Commission shall publish the results of
tendering procedure in a simplified form in the Official
Journal of the European Union.

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Article 94c

Statement of award

The intervention agency shall

1.
writing, without delay against a receipt, of
taken on their tenders.

inform tenderers

in
the decision

2. Within two weeks of the date of receipt of the infor-
mation notice referred to in paragraph 1, the intervention
agency shall issue each successful tenderer with a statement
of award certifying that their tender has been accepted.

3. Within two weeks of the date of receipt of the infor-
mation notice referred to in paragraph 1, each successful
they have lodged with
tenderer shall provide proof
the intervention agency concerned a performance guarantee
of EUR 30 per hectolitre of alcohol at 100 % vol to ensure
that the alcohol awarded is used for the purposes stated in
the tender.

that

Article 94d

Removal of the alcohol

All the alcohol must have been removed six months

4.
after the date of receipt of the information notice.

The alcohol must be fully used within two years of the

5.
date of first removal’;

2. the first subparagraph of Article 97(1)

is replaced by the

following:

‘1.
tenders must be
To be eligible for consideration,
submitted in writing and must include,
in addition to the
specific information referred to in subsections I, II or III’;

3.

in Article 98, paragraphs 1 and 2 are replaced by the
following:

‘1.
On publication of a notice of invitation to tender and
tenders in
the closing date for the submission of
until
interested parties may
response to such invitation, all
obtain samples of
the alcohol offered for sale, against
payment of EUR 10 per litre. The quantity made available
to each interested party shall not exceed five litres per vat.

1.
The intervention agency holding the alcohol and the
successful tenderer shall agree on a provisional timetable for
the removal of the alcohol.

2.
After the closing date for the submission of tenders,
the tenderer or the approved firm referred to in Article 92
may obtain samples of the alcohol awarded.

2.
The alcohol may be removed on presentation of a
removal order issued by the intervention agency once the
quantity to be removed has been paid for. That quantity shall
be determined to the nearest hectolitre of alcohol at 100 %
vol.

Each removal order shall cover a quantity of at least 2 500
hectolitres, except in the case of the last removal
in each
Member State.

After the closing date for the submission of
tenders, a
tenderer to whom a replacement pursuant to the second
subparagraph of Article 83(3)
is proposed may obtain
samples of the replacement alcohol proposed.

Such samples, which may not exceed five litres per vat, may
be obtained from the intervention agency against payment of
EUR 10 per litre.’;

4. Article 100(2)(c) is replaced by the following:

The removal order shall state the date by which the alcohol
must be physically removed from the warehouse of
the
intervention agency concerned. The deadline for removal
shall not be more than eight days from the date of issue
of the removal order. However, where the removal order
covers a quantity in excess of 25 000 hectolitres,
that
deadline may be more than eight days, but not more than
fifteen days.

‘(c) In the case of alcohol awarded for a new industrial use
and alcohol awarded under tendering procedures for use
as bio-ethanol in the fuel sector in the Community which
must be rectified prior to the final use intended, the
alcohol removed shall be deemed to have been used
entirely for the purpose specified where at least 90 %
of the total quantities of alcohol removed under an invi-
tation to tender is used for that purpose.

3.
Ownership of the alcohol covered by a removal order
shall be transferred on the date indicated in the order, which
may not be more than eight days after its date of issue, and
the quantities concerned shall be deemed to have been
removed on that date. From then on, the purchaser shall
be responsible for any theft,
loss or destruction and for
the storage costs of any alcohol awaiting removal.

inform the intervention agency of

The tenderer who has agreed to purchase the alcohol
shall
the quantity,
destination and use of the products derived from the
rectification.

However, losses may not exceed the limits specified in
point (b).’;

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5. Article 103(2) is replaced by the following:

‘2.
In the case of the distillation referred to in Articles 27,
28 and 30 of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999, Member
States shall communicate at the end of each month:

(a)

the quantities of wine, wine lees and fortified wine which
have been distilled in the previous month,

— taken over by the intervention agencies during the

previous month,

— disposed of by the intervention agencies during the
previous month and the percentage of those quan-
tities exported and the selling prices charged,

— held by the intervention agencies at the end of the

previous month.’

(b) the quantities of alcohol, broken down into neutral

alcohol, raw alcohol and spirits:

Article 2

— produced during the previous month,

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

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

Done at Brussels, 21 April 2005.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission