CELEX: 31971R1171
Language: en
Date: 1971-06-03 00:00:00
Title: Regulation (EEC) No 1171/71 of the Council of 3 June 1971 on the distillation of the by-products of wine-making

Official Journal of the European Communities                                     347
 No L 123/4                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                  5.6.71
                                REGULATION (EEC) No 1171/71 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                      of 3 June 1971
                                  on the distillation of the by-products of winemaking
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         Whereas, in the present situation, it is preferable to
                                                                  provide that that contribution should be a fixed
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                      amount rather than an amount which takes into
 European Economic Community; .                                  account the actual losses of the intervention agencies ;
                                                                 whereas that fixed amount should take account of
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No                     the prices at which intervention agencies actually buy
 816/701 of 28 April 1970 laying down additional                 in and sell that alcohol, but whereas, pending normal
provisions for the common organisation of the                    wofking of the system, it will be necessary to refer to
market in wine, as last amended by Regulation (EEC)              currently ruling prices ;
No 2612/70,2 and in particular Article 24 (2) and (3 )
thereof;                                                         Whereas the third subparagraph of Article 24 (2) of
                                                                 Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 provides that the
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;              obligation to distil may be discharged by the
                                                                 production of potable spirits ; whereas the first
Whereas the fixing of the price to be paid for alcohol           subparagraph of Article 24 (2) of that Regulation,
delivered to intervention agencies for the distillation          moreover, permits the distillation of wine in the
of the by-products of winemaking and the                         absence- of grape marc or wine lees ; whereas, under
contribution to be made by the Guarantee Section of              these conditions, it is logical to allow the production
the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee                 of a potable spirit from wine as well as a potable
Fund to the costs borne by those agencies are both               spirit from grape marc;
closely linked to the fixing of the guide price ; whereas
there should therefore be the same interval and time             Whereas the production of potable spirits must
limit for both these operations ;                                release the producer from the obligation to deliver
                                                                 alcohol only in respect of the quantity of alcohol
Whereas the intervention agencies designated by                  contained in the potable spirit produced;
Member States must buy in alcohol delivered to them
for the distillation of the by-products of winemaking            Whereas, in order to prevent potable spirits of
at a price at which the producer subject to the                  mediocre quality from being produced, it is
obligation to distil is not placed at a disadvantage in          necessary, in the absence of any Community criteria
relation to the producer who is not subject to that              on the subject, to provide that the potable spirits
obligation ;                                                     produced should conform to national provisions in
                                                                 force ; whereas, to ensure that these are observed,
Whereas, in the absence of any organised market in               provision should be made for inspection ;
ethyl alcohol at Community level, the intervention
agencies responsible for marketing that alcohol risk             Whereas, for the 1970/71 wine-growing year, the
having to resell it at a price lower than the buying-in          Member States in which an obligatory system for the
price ; whereas it is necessary to provide that, in such         distillation of the by-products of winemaking was in
cases, the difference between the buying-in price and            force on 31 May 1970 were required by Commission
the selling price of that alcohol can be met by the              Regulation (EEC) No 1633/703 of 11 August 1970 on
Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural                   the provisional suspension of the application of
Guidance and Guarantee Fund, provided that the                   Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70, as
contribution does not exceed the difference ;                    amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2230/70,4 to
1 OJ No L 99, 5.5.1970, p. 1 .                                   3 OJ No L 173, 12.8.1970, p. 9.
2 OJ No L 281, 27.12.1970, p. 6.                                 4 OJ No L 241, 4.11.1970, p. 15.
 ---pagebreak--- 348                                  Official Journal of the European Communities
continue to apply for a provisional period the rules                                    Article 2
which they had already laid down; whereas only
France is in this position ; whereas the buying-in price        1 . The buying-in price shall be fixed at a level at
of the alcohol delivered to the ' Service des alcools' in       which the producer distilling his by-products of
France was fixed, in application of the above rules, at         winemaking, or having them distilled, can be assured
58 5 units of account per hectolitre of pure alcohol            of a return comparable to that which he would have
for the wine-growing year in question ; whereas that            had if he had not been subject to the obligation to
price, when set against the price that could obtain for         distil .
that alcohol under existing national provisions, left
the producer with too heavy a burden, which should              2. The buying-in price, fixed per hectolitre of pure
be relieved by means of a suitable contribution for             alcohol, shall be valid for the Community. It shall
that wine-growing year from the Guarantee Section               apply to goods, free-at-distillery, loaded into a means
of the European Agricultural Guidance and                       of transport chosen by the intervention agency.
Guarantee. Fund ;
                                                                The actual alcoholic strength of the products
Whereas the first subparagraph of Article 24 (3 )               obtained from the distillation of the by-products of
of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 provides that certain             winemaking and delivered to the intervention agency
production regions may be exempted from the                     may not be less than 52° .
obligation to distil the by-products of winemaking;
whereas in Germany and Luxembourg grape marcs                                            Article 3
and wine lees generally contain little alcohol and the
costs involved in extracting it would be too high;               1.      The contribution of the Guarantee Section of
whereas, under those conditions, provision should be
made for producers in those regions to be exempted              the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee
from the obligation to distil their grape marcs and             Fund shall be paid only where the buying-in price is
wine lees, while remaining subject nevertheless to the          greater than the selling price; it shall be at a fixed
provisions of Article 24 ( 1 ) of that Regulation ;              rate per hectolitre of pure alcohol contained in the
                                                                products delivered to the intervention agencies . It
                                                                 shall not exceed the difference between the buying-in
"Whereas the obligation under the first subparagraph             price and the weighted selling price of those
 of Article 24 (2) is a heavy one for the independent            products.
producer who makes only a small quantity of wine;
whereas such obligation would involve him in                     2. For the wine-growing years preceding the
transport costs for his grape marcs and wine lees out            establishment of the common organisation of ' the
 of all proportion to the return which he could expect           market in alcohol, that difference shall be determined
from the alcohol which might be extracted ; whereas              by taking into account normal selling prices for
such producers should therefore also be exempted                 similar products during the previous wine-growing
from the obligation to distil but remain subject,                year .
nevertheless, to the provisions of Article 24 ( 1 ) of
 that Regulation ;
                                                                                          Article 4
 Whereas the period of application of this Regulation
 should be limited so that future developments in this           1 . For the 1970/71 . wine-growing year, the
 field may be taken into account;                                 buying-in price shall be fixed at 66*25 units of
                                                                 account per hectolitre of pure alcohol.
 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :                                   2.      By way of derogation from Article 3 , the
                                                                  contribution    of  the   Guarantee   Section    of the
                          Article 1                              European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund
                                                                 shall be fixed for the same wine-growing year at 7-75
                                                                  units of account per hectolitre of pure alcohol. ,
 1 . Subject to the provisions of Article 4, the price
 to be paid to producers for alcohol delivered to
 intervention agencies and the contribution by the                                        Article 5
 Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural
  Guidance and Guarantee Fund towards the costs
                                                                  1.     Producers may, in partial or total discharge of
  devolving on those agencies shall be fixed annually             the obligation laid down in the first subparagraph of
  before 1 August for the following wine-growing year.            Article 24 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70,
                                                                  produce or have produced potable spirits of grape
  2.    The price mentioned, in the previous paragraph            marc or potable spirits of wine from their own
  is hereinafter called the 'buying-in price'.                    products.
 ---pagebreak---                                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                  349
2. The quantity of alcohol, expressed as pure                                          Article 7
alcohol, contained in the potable spirits shall be
deducted from the quantity of alcohol which must be            Independent producers who do not make more than
delivered pursuant to the first subparagraph of                50 hectolitres of wine in any one wine-growing year,
Article 24 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70.                  shall not be subject to the obligation laid down in the
                                                               first subparagraph of Article 24 (2) of Regulation
3 . The production of potable spirits may have the             (EEC) No 816/70.
effect mentioned in paragraph 1 only if:
(a) the quality of the spirit obtained conforms to                                     Article 8
     national provisions on the subject; the producer
     or distiller shall supply proof thereof to the            Subject to the provisions of Article 4, the provisions
     competent agency ;                                        of this Regulation shall apply to the 1971/72,
                                                               1972/73 and 1973/74 wine-growing years.
(b) it is carried out under ' the supervision of the
     competent authority, the producer and the                 Before 1 June 1974, the Council, acting in accordance
     distiller being required to permit that supervision       with the voting procedure laid down in Article 43 (2)
     at any moment during distillation.                        of the Treaty on a proposal from the Commission,
                                                               shall adopt provisions for subsequent wine-growing
                                                               years .
                         Article 6
Producers whose vineyards . are situated in                                            Article 9
wine-growing zone A or in the German part of
wine-growing zone B shall not be subject to the                This Regulation shall enter into force on the third
obligation laid down in the first subparagraph of              day following its publication in the Official Journal
Article 24 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70.                  of the European Communities.
               This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
               States .
               Done at Luxembourg, 3 June 1971 .
                                                                                     For the Council
                                                                                      The President
                                                                                       R. PLEVEN