CELEX: 31977R1475
Language: en
Date: 1977-06-20 00:00:00
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 1475/77 of 20 June 1977 amending for the third time Regulation (EEC) No 2133/74 laying down general rules for the description and presentation of wines and grape musts

2 . 7 . 77                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                              No L 164/ 1
                                                                      I
                                                   (Acts whose publication is obligatory)
                                             COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC) No 1475 /77
                                                              of 20 June 1977
                 amending for the third time Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74 laying down general
                          rules for the description and presentation of wines and grape musts
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                             container a small 'e certifying that the latter meets
 COMMUNITIES,                                                            the requirements of this Directive ; whereas it should
                                                                         be pointed out in Regulation (EEC) No 2133/74 that
  Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                  the compulsory indication of the nominal volume of
  Economic Community,                                                    the product must be accompanied by a small 'e'
                                                                         provided that the containers used satisfy the require­
                                                                         ments of the above Directive ;
 Having regard to Council Regulation ( EEC) No
 816/70 of 28 April 1970 laying down additional provi­
 sions for the common organization of the market in
 wine ('), as last amended by Regulation ( EEC) No                       Whereas in several provisions of the German text a
 528/77 (2), and in particular Articles 30 ( 1 ) and 39a (2)             term should be replaced by the one usually used in
 thereof,                                                                wine Regulations ;
 Having regard to Council Regulation ( EEC) No
 817/70 of 28 April 1970 laying down special provi­                      Whereas it should be specified that the terms ' Land­
 sions relating to quality wines produced in specified                   wein ', 'vin de pays' or 'vino tipico' are restricted to the
 regions (3), as last amended by Regulation ( EEC) No                    use of a specific geographical ascription and are
 2878/76 (4), and in particular Article 12 (3) thereof,                  reserved for table wines meeting certain production
                                                                         conditions ;    whereas    it is   therefore   essential  to
                                                                         prohibit the use of these geographical ascriptions for
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ,                     other wines ;
 Whereas Regulation ( EEC) No 21 33/74 (5 ), as last
 amended by Regulation ( EEC) No 11 68 /76 (b), lays                     Whereas, to take account of regional characteristics in
 down general rules for the description and presenta­                    the production of table wines, Member States should
 tion of wines and grape musts ;                                         be able to make compulsory, dispense with or restrict
                                                                         the use of optional particulars to describe any table
 Whereas an error of presentation in certain languages                   wines and not only table wines the description of
 of Article 1 (3) must be corrected ;                                    which include a geographical ascription ; whereas this
                                                                         has proved particularly necessary where information is
                                                                         given concerning types of table wine characterized by
 Whereas point 3.3 of Annex I to Council Directive                       their residual sugar content ;
 75/ 106/ EEC of 19 December 1974 on the approxima­
 tion of the laws of the Member States relating to the
 making-up by volume of certain prepackaged
 liquids ( 7) lays down that any prepackaging made in                    Whereas , in order to inform the consumer, it is advis­
 accordance     with     this   Directive      must   bear  on  the      able in respect of table wine made from a coupage of
                                                                         products originating in different Member States to lay
(')  OJ   No  L 99 , 5 . 5 . 1970 , p. I.                                down that the words ' wine from different countries of
(2)  OJ   No  L 69 , 16 . 3 . 1977 , p. I.                               the European Community' be repeated in an official
(J ) OJ   No  L 99 , 5 . 5 . 1970 , p. 20 .                              language of the Member State in which the wine in
(4 ) OJ   No  L 331 , 30 . II . 1976, p. 3 .
(5 ) OJ   No  L 227, 17 . 8 . 1974 , p . 1 .                            question is offered to consumers, provided that this
(o)  OJ   No  L 135 , 24 . 5 . 1976, p . 46.                             indication is given in another official Community
( 7) OJ   No  L 42 , 15 . 2 . I97S , p . 1 .                             language on the label ;
 ---pagebreak--- No L 164/ 2                         Official Journal of the European Communities                               2 . 7 . 77
Whereas the list of names of specified regions which          secondly, the other particulars on the labels, in parti­
may be used until 31 August 1981 , pursuant to the            cular the name or the business name of the bottler or
second subparagraph of Article 1 2 (3) of Regulation          the local administrative area where he has his head
( EEC) No 817/70, should be supplemented by the               offices and the brand name ; whereas, as regards the
word ' Ischia' ;                                               latter particulars, provision should therefore be made
                                                               for the use of a code while, however, permitting the
                                                               Member States to prescribe other appropriate
Whereas a more restricted geographical unit than the           measures for their territory ;
specified region , the name of a vine variety or the
vintage must be indicated in accordance with rules
which follow the same principles ; whereas it is there­        Whereas experience has shown that in commercial
fore advisable to adapt the rules permitting deroga­           documents information concerning products other
tions for wines which have been sweetened and which            than a table wine or a quality wine psr is necessary
are described by the name of a vine variety or by the          only where accompanying documents have not been
vintage ;                                                      drawn up ; whereas Article 26 ( 1 ) of Regulation (EEC)
                                                               No 2133 / 74 should therefore be amended accord­
                                                               ingly ;
Whereas Articles 9 , 19 and 35 of Regulation ( EEC)
 No 2133 /74 specify the obligatory and optional infor­        Whereas , to take account of modern commercial
mation for the description of table wines, quality             accounting techniques and to facilitate the task of the
wines produced in specified regions and imported               bodies which Member States have made responsible
wines which must be given in the official documents            for ensuring compliance with the Community rules
and registers, provided that such information appears          on wine, it is advisable to extend to all products, the
or is intended to appear on the labelling ; whereas            description of which is governed by Regulation (EEC)
certain characteristics of the wines to which this infor­
                                                               No 2133/74, the possibility of describing them by
 mation refers, namely the residual sugar content and          means of a code ;
 the particular colour, can change as a result of oeno­
 logical practices at various stages in commercial distri­
 bution ; whereas there consequently seems no justifica­       Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 2133/74 lays down that
 tion for maintaining the requirement that such parti­         the name of the importer must be given ; whereas, in
 culars referring to the residual sugar content and,           the case of a product imported in bulk and divided
 except for quality wines psr, to a particular colour of       into several consignments and distributed to various
 the product appear in the documents and registers in          persons, it should be laid down that the name of the
 order to be able to appear on the labels , particularly       consignor instead of the importer must be given, in
 since these are characteristics which can easily be           order to provide the consumer with more information
 checked without recourse to documents ; whereas , on          and to facilitate the task of the supervisory authori­
 the other hand, in order to be able to check the infor­       ties ;
 mation concerning the natural and technical condi­
 tions governing the production of the wine, it is neces­
 sary to lay down that this information be indicated in        Whereas, with the aim of allowing greater flexibility
 the official documents, provided that it appears or is        in dealing with the rules applicable in third countries
 intended to appear on the labelling ;                          for the description of wines intended for export to the
                                                               Community, it is advisable to adapt Community rules
                                                                permitting derogations for imported wines with regard
 Whereas Article 12 ( 1 ) of Regulation ( EEC) No              to the indication of a geographical unit, the name of a
 2133 /74 requires the use on the labels of the term           vine variety or a vintage ;
 'quality wine psr' or of the specific traditional expres­
 sion laid down in the Member State concerned ;
                                                               Whereas Article 41 of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74
 whereas, in order to provide the consumer with more           defines uiiat is meant by labelling ; whereas it should
 information , in particular in Member States other than        be stated that such a definition excludes non-remov­
 the producer State and in third countries, both those          able particulars which appear on the container and
 terms should be allowed to appear simultaneously on            refer not to the content thereof but to the container
 the labels ; whereas it should be laid down that a
                                                                itself ; whereas particulars used by the bottler for the
 Member State may not make compulsory , dispense                purpose of checks to be carried out on his premises
 with or restrict the use of the term 'quality wine psr'        should    also  be  excluded   from  the  definition    of
 which , as it is a Community term , may be indicated           labelling,   since  they   are  not addressed     to   the
 in all the official languages of the Community ;               consumer ;
 Whereas confusion should be avoided , firstly , between        Whereas the German version of Article 43 of Regula­
 the name of a specified region within the meaning ot           tion ( EEC) No 2133 /74 should be adapted so that it
 Article 2 of Regulation ( EEC) No 817/ 70 and ,                agrees fully with the other versions,
 ---pagebreak---  2. 7. 77                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No L 164/3
 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :                                   and in the first and third indents of Article 28 (2) (o),
                                                                 the words 'zu Wein verarbeitet' shall be replaced by
                                                                 ' zu Wein bereitet'.
                             Article 1
 The second subparagraph of Article 1 (3) (a) of Regula­                                     Article 4
 tion (EEC) No 2133/74 shall be replaced by the
 following :                                                     The following sentence shall be added to the first
       '(a) products transported :
                                                                 subparagraph of Article 2 (3) (i) of Regulation (EEC)
                                                                 No 2133 / 74 :
             — between two or more plants,
                                                                      'These rules shall provide that these terms be used
            — between vineyards and wine-making                        in conjunction with a specific geographical refer­
                 plants,                                              ence and reserved for table wines meeting certain
             belonging to the same concern and situated in            production requirements, particularly as regards
             the same local administrative area ;'.                   vine varieties , minimum natural alcoholic content
                                                                      and organoleptic characteristics.'.
                             Article 2
                                                                                            Article 5
 1 . Article 2 ( 1 ) (b) of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74
 shall be replaced by the following :                            Article 3 of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74 shall be
                                                                 amended as follows :
      '(b) the nominal volume of the table wine,
             together with a small "e" provided that the         (a) paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following :
             containers used comply with the requirements             '2.     In the case of table wines obtained on their
             of Directive 75/ 106/ EEC                                territory, Member States may make compulsory,
                                                                      dispense with or restrict the use of certain particu­
 2. Article 12 ( 1 ) (c) of Regulation ( EEC) No                      lars referred to in Article 2 (2) and (3).' ;
 2133/ 74 shall be replaced by the following :
      '(c) the nominal volume of the quality wine psr,           (b) the second subparagraph of paragraph 6 shall be
             together with a small "e" provided that the              supplemented by the following :
            containers used comply with the requirements              '(c) indication of the words "wine from different
            of Directive 75/ 106/ EEC ;'.                                   countries of the European Community"
                                                                            referred to in Article 2 ( 1 ) (d) ( ii) shall be re­
 3.       Article 22 ( 1 ) (c) of Regulation ( EEC) No                      peated , on a supplementary label if necessary,
 2133 / 74 shall be replaced by the following :                             in an official language of the Member State in
      '(c) the nominal volume of the product, together                      which the wine is offered to the consumer, if
            with a small "e" provided that the containers                   this indication appears on the label in another
            used comply with the requirements of Direc­                     official language of the Community.'.
            tive 75 / 106/ EEC
                                                                                            Article 6
4.        In Regulation ( EEC) No 2133 /74, Articles 27 ( 1 )
(b) and 28 ( 1 ) (b) shall be replaced by the following :
                                                                 Article 4 (3) of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74 shall be
      '(b) the nominal volume of the imported wine ,             amended as follows :
            together with a small ue" provided that the
                                                                 (a) the first subparagraph shall be replaced by the
            containers used comply with the requirements
            of Directive 75/ 106/ EEC ;'.                             following :
                                                                      '3.     The use of one of the names referred to in
5.       Article 29 ( 1 ) (c) of Regulation ( EEC) No                 paragraph 1 to describe a table wine shall be
2133/74 shall be replaced by the following :                          subject to the condition that it cannot be identi­
                                                                      fied :
      '(c) the nominal volume of the imported product ,
            together with a small "e" provided that the               — either with the name of a production area of
            containers used comply with the requirements                   another table wine to which the Member State
            of Directive 75 / 106/ EEC ;'.                                 concerned has ascribed one of the terms " Land­
                                                                           wein ", "vin de pays" or "vino tipico",
                             Article 3                                — or with the set of particulars giving the geogra­
                                                                           phical designation of a quality wine psr,
In the German version of Regulation ( EEC) No                              named after the specified region , or, where
2133 /74, in the first and third indents of Article 2 ( 3 )                appropriate, named in accordance with the
( f), in the first and third indents of Article 12 ( 2) (q ),              provisions of Article 14 ( 1 ),
 ---pagebreak--- No L 164/4                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                  2 . 7 . 77
    — or with the description of an imported wine              (a) the wording of (c) shall be replaced by the
         referred to in Article 28 ,                                following :
    and that there is no risk of confusion with a                  '(c) a statement as to the method of production, a
    quality wine psr or with an imported wine .' ;                        particular colour, or the type of product
                                                                          except as regards the residual sugar content ;' ;
(b) the word ' Ischia' shall be added to the list in the
    second subparagraph .                                      (b) the following shall be added :
                                                                    '(f) the particulars of the natural or technical condi­
                          Article 7                                       tions governing the production of the wine ;'.
1.     The second indent of Article 5 (2), and the             3 . The second subparagraph of Article 35 (2) of
second indent of Article 15 (2) of Regulation (EEC)            Regulation (EEC) No 2133/74 shall be amended as
                                                               follows :
No 2133/74 shall be replaced by the following :
    '— the name of one vine variety, if at least 85 %          (a) the wording of (e) shall be replaced by the
          of the product concerned is obtained, after               following :
          deduction of the quantity of the products used            '(e) a statement as to the method of production or
          for possible sweetening, from grapes of the                     the type of product except as regards the
          variety named, and provided that the variety                    residual sugar content ;
          determines the nature of the product in ques­
          tion .'.                                             (b) the following shall be added :
2. Article 6 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2133/74                     '(f) the particulars of the natural or technical condi­
shall be replaced by the following :                                       tions governing the production of the wine.'.
    '2. By derogation from paragraph 1 and without
                                                                                          Article 9
    prejudice to Article 7, producer Member States
    may allow the indication of the vintage if at least
    85 % of the table wine concerned is obtained,              Article 12 (2) (i) of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74 shall
    after deduction of the quantity of the products            be replaced by the following :
    used for possible sWeetening, from grapes har­                  '(i) additional details of a traditional kind,
    vested in the year to be shown .'.                                     provided that they are used in the manner
                                                                           prescribed by the laws of the producer
3. Article 16 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2133/74                           Member State and are entered in a list to be
shall be replaced by the following :                                       drawn up ;
    '2. By derogation from paragraph 1 and without                    (j) — the Community expression "quality wine
    prejudice to Article 17, producer Member States                           produced in a specified region", or "quality
    may allow an indication of the vintage if at least                        wine psr" if it does not appear pursuant to
    85 % of the quality wine psr concerned is                                 paragraph ( 1 ) (b), or
    obtained, after deduction of the quantity of the
    products used for possible sweetening, from grapes                    — a specific traditional expression if it does
     harvested in the year to be shown .'.                                    not appear pursuant to paragraph ( 1 ) (b)
                          A rticle 8                                                     Article 10
 1.    Article 9 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2133/74             1 . Article 13 (2) of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74
shall be amended as follows :                                  shall be replaced by the following :
(a) the wording of (d) shall be replaced by the                     '2. In the case of quality wines psr obtained on
    following :                                                     their territory, Member States may make compul­
                                                                    sory, dispense with or restrict the use of certain
    '(d) a statement as to the method or production or               particulars referred to in Article 12 (2), except for
          the type of product, except as to the residual             those referred to in the first indent of (j).'.
          sugar content ;' ;
                                                                2. Article 13 of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74 shall
(b) the following wording shall be added :                     be supplemented by the following :
    '(f) the particulars of the natural or technical condi­         '4a. An indication of all or part ol she name of
          tions governing the production of the wine                a specified region , as defined by Article- 2 of Regu­
                                                                     lation ( EEC) No 817/70 , other thai : ' ic indication
2.     Article 19 (2) of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74                which may be used for the q -.-.>'- - wine psr in
shall be amended as follows :                                       question , shall be given in the form of a code .
 ---pagebreak--- 2 . 7 . 77                            Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 164/ 5
     However, Member States may lay down other                             containers with a nominal volume of more
     appropriate measures for their territory, in parti­                   than 60 litres and where the importer and
     cular as regards the size of the letters of this indica­              consignor are not the same, the name or busi­
     tion , to avoid confusion concerning the geogra­                      ness name of the consignor and the local
     phical origin of the wine .'.                                         administrative area or part thereof where his
                                                                           head offices are situated
3.      The second indent of Article 13 ( 5) (a) shall be
replaced by the following :
                                                                                          Article 13
     '— one of the specific traditional expressions
           referred to in the second subparagraph of             1 . The second indent of the first subparagraph of
           Article 12 (4) of Regulation (EEC) No                Article 31 (3) of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133 /74 shall
           817/70,'.                                            be replaced by the following :
                                                                     '— are approximately equivalent to the deroga­
                           Article 11                                      tions allowed under Article 14 (3) for quality
                                                                           wines psr.'.
Article 26 of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133/74 shall be
amended as follows :                                            2 . The second indent of Article 32 ( 2) of Regula­
                                                                tion ( EEC) No 2133 / 74 shall be replaced by the
(a) paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following :            following :
     '1.     If no accompanying document has been                    '— are approximately equivalent to the deroga­
     drawn up for a product other than a table wine or                     tions allowed under Articles 5 (2) and 15 (2)
     a quality wine psr, the description in the commer­                    for table wines and quality wines psr.'.
     cial documents referred to in Article 1 (2) (c) shall
     include at least the information        referred to in     3 . The second indent of Article 33 ( 2) of Regula­
     Article 24 ( 1 ).' ;                                       tion ( EEC) No 2133 / 74 shall be replaced by the
                                                                following :
(b) the following paragraph shall be added :
                                                                     '— are approximately equivalent to the deroga­
     '6.     In the case of products other than table                      tions allowed under Articles 6 (2) and 16 (2)
     wines or quality wines psr distributed in their terri­                for table wines and quality wines psr.'.
     tory, the Member States may permit the informa­
     tion referred to in Article 22 to be erttered in
                                                                                          Article 14
     commercial documents by means of a code . This
     code must be such that the body responsible for
                                                                The following paragraph shall be added to Article 38
     inspections can rapidly identify the description of
                                                                of Regulation ( EEC) No 2133 / 74 :
     the product concerned .'.
                                                                     '4 .    In the case of imported products distributed
                           Article 12
                                                                     in their territory, Member States may permit the
                                                                     information referred to in Articles 27 , 28 and 29
                                                                     to be entered in commercial documents by means
 1.     The third indent of Article 27 ( 1 ) (c) and the
                                                                     of a code . The code must be such that the body
third indent of Article 28 ( 1 ) (c) of Regulation ( EEC )
No 2133/74 shall be replaced by the following :                      responsible for inspections can rapidly identify the
                                                                     description of the product concerned .'.
     '— are put up in other containers :
          — the      name     or  business   name    of   the                             Article 1 5
               importer and of the local administrative
               area or part thereof where his head offices      Article 41 ( 1 ) of Regulation ( EEC ) No 2133 / 74 shall
               are situated , or                                be replaced by the following :
          — if the importer and consignor are not the                M.      For the purpose of Titles I and II of this
               same , the name or business name of the               Regulation , labelling shall be understood to mean
               consignor and the local administrative area           all descriptions and other references, signs, designs
               or part thereof where his head offices are            or brand names which distinguish the product and
               situated                                              which appear on the same container, including its
                                                                     sealing device , and on the tag attached to the
2.     Article 29 ( 1 ) .(d ) of Regulation ( EEC ) No               container .
2133 / 74 shall be replaced by the following :
                                                                     Particulars , signs and other references are not part
    '(d) the name or business name of the importer                   of the labelling if they :
          and the local administrative area or part
          thereof in which his head offices are situated ,           -— are laid down by the tax provisions of Member
          or, where the imported product is put up in                     States , or
 ---pagebreak--- No L 164/ 6                        Official Journal of the European Communities                              2.7.77
   — refer to the manufacturer or to the nominal                  — über die Identität oder die Eigenschaft der na­
        volume of the container and are inscribed                     türlichen oder juristischen Personen oder Perso­
        directly and indelibly thereon , or                           nenvereinigungen , die an der Herstellung oder
   — are used by the bottler for his own internal                     der Vermarktung des Erzeugnisses beteiligt
        checks and are indicated in detailed rules to be              sind oder waren .'.
        laid down .'.
                                                                                        Article 1 7
                        Article 16
                                                             The following Article shall be added to Regulation
The German version of Article 43 of Regulation ( EEC)      . ( EEC) No 2133/74 :
No 2133/74 shall be replaced by the following :
                                                                   Article 43a
   '' Artikel 43
   1.     Bezeichnung und Aufmachung von in Arti­                 If necessary, rules may be adopted to govern the
                                                                  use of :
   kel 1 Absatz 3 genannten Erzeugnissen , einschließ­
   lich jeder Art von Werbung, dürfen nicht geeignet              — the codes referred to in Articles 3 (4), 13 (4)
   sein, Verwechslungen hinsichtlich der in den Arti­                 and 30 (6),
   keln 2, 12, 27, 28 und 29 genannten Angaben her­               — the control numbers referred to in Article 12
   vorzurufen .
                                                                      (2).'.
   2.     Bezeichnung und Aufmachung in der Wer­
   bung dürfen nicht zu einer Irreführung über das                                      Article 18
   Erzeugnis geeignet sein , insbesondere
   — über die Art des Erzeugnisses, die Farbe, den           This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
        Ursprung, die Qualitätsstufe, die Rebsorte, den       following its publication in the Official Journal of
        Jahrgang und den Inhalt der Behältnisse ;             the Euro heart Communities.
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
               States .
               Done at Luxembourg, 20 June 1977 .
                                                                             For the Council
                                                                              The President
                                                                                J. SILKIN