CELEX: 31974R1876
Language: en
Date: 1974-07-15 00:00:00
Title: Regulation (EEC) No 1876/74 of the Council of 15 July 1974 concerning the addition of alcohol to products in the wine sector

20. 7. 74                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No L 198 / 1
                                                                I
                                             (Acts whose publication is obligatory)
                                REGULATION (EEC) No 1876/74 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                        of 15 July 1974
                        concerning the addition of alcohol to products in the wine sector
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                        Whereas the preparation of products falling within
COMMUNITIES,                                                       heading No 22.06 and subheading 22.07 B II of the
                                                                   Commom Customs Tariff requires the addition of
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              alcohol to some of the products listed in Article 1 (2)
Economic Community ;                                               of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 ; whereas such pre­
                                                                   paration is significant enough to justify derogation
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No                       from the prohibition on the addition of alcohol ;
816/70 (') of 28 April 1970 laying down additional
provisions for the common organization of the market               Whereas, in order to prevent frauds, in all cases the
in wine, as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No                    nature of the alcohol which may be added should be
 1 532/74 (2), and in particular Article 25 (2) thereof ;          specified and in certain cases the permissible limits
                                                                   for the addition of alcohol should be fixed ;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;
                                                                   Whereas the measures concerning semi-sparking
                                                                   wines and products falling within heading No 22.06
Whereas, pursuant to Article 25 ( 1 ) of Regulation                of the     Common       Customs      Tariff should    be of a
(EEC) No 816/70 the addition of alcohol to the                      temporary nature, pending the adoption of provisions
products listed in Article 1 (2) of that Regulation is             supplementing or harmonizing the definitions of
prohibited, with the exception of wines fortified for               these products ; whereas such measures should there­
distillation and liqueur wines ; whereas Article 25 (2),            fore be laid down for a limited period ;
however, permits derogations from this prohibition ;
                                                                   Whereas       most   of  the    above     considerations have
Whereas the possibility of adding alcohol to table                 already formed the basis of provisions contained vari­
wines and to quality wines produced in specified                   ously in Council Regulation (EEC) No 1 093/70 (3) of
regions should be provided for where they are                       8 June 1970 concerning the addition of alcohol to
exported to third countries, either to take account of              products in the wine sector originating in the Commu­
consumer habits in those countries, or to prevent                   nity, as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No
climatic conditions or transport from affecting the                 1 929 /73 (4), and in the previous amendments thereto ;
quality of the exported wines ; whereas the non-Euro­              whereas, because of their number and complexity,
pean areas of Member States are in the same situation               these texts are lacking in clarity and they should there­
as the third countries in question ; whereas this possi­            fore be consolidated in a single text,
bility should be extended to consignments of these
products to these areas ; whereas, however, to enforce
the prohibition on the addition of alcohol, the sale of
these products should be forbidden in the European                  HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
areas of the Member States ; whereas to simplify
control, re-dispatching to the European areas of
Member States should be prohibited ;                                                           Article 1
Whereas it is equally necessary to authorize the addi­              By way of derogation from the provisions of Article
tion of alcohol in the form of a sweetener to sparkling            25 ( 1 ) of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70, alcohol may,
wines and , under certain conditions, to semi-sparking             under the conditions provided in this Regulation , be
wines ;                                                            added to the following products :
(») OJ No L 99 , 5 . 5 . 1970 , p. 1 .                             ( 3 ) OJ No L 128 , 12. 6 . 1970 , p. 1 .
(2) OJ No L 166, 21 . 6 .. 1974, p. 1 .                            (4 ) OJ No L 199 , 19 . 7 . 1973 , p. 8 .
 ---pagebreak--- No L 198/2                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             20 . 7. 74
1 . Table wines and quality wines psr, where climatic           However, in the case of sparkling wines and semi-spar­
    conditions or consumer habits necessitate an addi­          kling wines, 'esprit de Cognac' complying with the
    tion of alcohol and where they are exported to              laws in force in the producer Member State may be
    third countries or dispatched to the non-European           added .
    areas of Member States, on condition that in this
    latter case they are not re-dispatched to the Euro­         2. Alcohol added to the products listed in Article 1
    pean areas of Member States.                                 point 3 and point 4 must be ethyl alcohol of agricul­
                                                                 tural origin .
2. (a) Sparkling wines in the form of a sweetener ;
    (b) semi-sparkling wines in the form of a sweet­                                      Article 3
         ener and provided that this method is tradi­
         tional and permitted under the laws in force in         1.    The quantities of alcohol added may not :
         the producer Member States.                             (a) increase the total alcoholic strength of the
3. (a) Grape musts and grape musts in fermentation                   products specified in Article 1 point 1 by more
         derived exclusively from the vine varieties                 than 2° ;
         referred to in Article 16 of Regulation (EEC)           (b) increase the total alcoholic strength of the
         No 816/70 and having at least the minimum                   products specified in Article 1 point 2 by more
         natural alcoholic strength fixed for the wine­              than 0-5° .
         growing zone where the grapes were harv­
         ested ;                                                 2.     Member States may restrict the addition of
                                                                 alcohol to quality wines psr still further, or even
    (b) table wines ;
                                                                 prohibit it altogether.
    (c) quality wines psr ;
    (d) in certain cases liqueur wines, whether or not                                    Article 4
          imported ;
    (e) imported wines fulfilling the requirements of            The following shall be applicable until 31 August
         Article 28 ( 1 ) of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 ;         1975 :
     intended for the preparation of products falling            — Article 1 point 2 (b) and point 3 ;
    within heading No 22.06 of the Common Customs                — the second subparagraph of Article 2 ( 1 ), in so far
    Tariff.                                                           as it refers to the products specified in Article 1
                          i
                                                                      point 2 (b) ;
4. Concentrated grape musts to be used in the manu­
     facture of products falling within subheading 22.07         — Article 2 (2), in so far as it refers to the products
     B II of the Common Customs Tariff.                               specified in Article 1 point 3 .
                            Article 2                                                     Article 5
 1 . The alcohol added to the products listed in                  Regulation (EEC) No 1093/70 is repealed with effect
Article 1 point 1 and point 2 must be either neutral              from 31 August 1974.
 alcohol of vinous origin having an actual alcoholic
 strength of not less than 95° , or an unrectified                                        Article 6
 product derived from the distillation of wine and
 having an actual alcoholic strength of not less than             This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 September
 52° and not more than 80° .                                      1974 .
                This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                 States .
                 Done at Brussels, 15 July 1974.
                                                                                For the Council
                                                                                 The President
                                                                              Christian BONNET