CELEX: 51986PC0159(02)
Language: en
Date: 1986-09-24
Title: AMENDED PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) LAYING DOWN GENERAL RULES ON THE DEFINITION, DESCRIPTION AND PRESENTATION OF VERMOUTHS AND OTHER WINES OF FRESH GRAPES FLAVOURED WITH PLANTS OR OTHER AROMATIC SUBSTANCES

25.10.86                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 269/15
              Amended proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) laying down general rules on the definition,
              description and presentation of vermouths and other wines of fresh grapes flavoured with plants
                                                or other aromatic substances (')
                                                      COM(86) 159 final
              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 149 of
                                            the EEC Treaty on 25 September 1986)
                                                         (86/C 269/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           in the geographical area in question; whereas, by thus
                                                                   conferring exclusive rights on the producers concerned,
                                                                   the Community rules will ensure that the names in
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              question continue to serve as indications of provenance
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 43 and              and will prevent them from entering the public domain
235 thereof,                                                       and becoming generic terms; whereas the ascriptions in
                                                                   question also perform the function of informing the
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                 consumer as to the origin of products characterized by
                                                                   the raw materials used, by the special processes
                                                                   employed in their manufacture;
Having regard       to  the   opinion   of   the   European
Parliament,
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                   Whereas the customary means of informing the
Social Committee,                                                  consumer is to include certain information on the label;
                                                                   whereas the labelling of aromatized wines is subject to
                                                                   the general rules laid down in Council Directive
Whereas there are no specific Community rules                      79/112/EEC of 18 December 1978 on the approxi-
governing the definition, description or presentation of           mation of the laws of the Member States relating to the
vermouths or other wines of fresh grapes flavoured with            labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs for
plants or other aromatic substances, hereinafter referred          sale to the ultimate consumer ( 2 ); whereas, in view of the
to as 'aromatized wines'; whereas, given the economic              nature of the products in question and so that the
importance of these products, it is necessary, in order to         consumer may have fuller information, provisions
assist the functioning of the common market, to lay                additional to these general rules should be adopted,
down common provisions on this subject;                            together with any necessary derogations;
Whereas aromatized wines constitute a major outlet for
Community agriculture; whereas this outlet is largely the
                                                                   Whereas, although Directive 79/112/EEC requires the
result of the reputation which these products have
                                                                   printing of certain particulars on the labelling, it is
acquired throughout the Community and on the world
                                                                   relatively imprecise as regards the place of manufacture;
market; whereas this reputation can be attributed to the
                                                                   whereas this concept is of particular importance in the
quality of traditional products; whereas a certain quality
should therefore be maintained for the products in                 sector of the beverages concerned owing to the fact the
question if this outlet is to be preserved; whereas the            consumer often makes an association between the
appropriate means of maintaining this quality standard is          beverage in question and the place of its manufacture;
to define the products in question taking into account             whereas the absence of such an indication may give the
the traditional practices on which their reputation is             consumer the impression of a false origin; whereas this
based; whereas, moreover, the terms thus defined should            danger should be avoided by making it obligatory to
be used only for products of the same quality as                   state the place of manufacture on the labelling;
traditional products so as to prevent their being
devalued;
                                                                   Whereas additional requirements should, in certain cases,
Whereas the Community rules should stipulate that                  also be laid down; whereas, in particular, when ethyl
geographical ascriptions may only be used by the                   alcohol is used it should be required that it be solely of
territories, which, exceptionally, may include certain             agricultural origin, so as to continue to ensure a major
countries, to which they refer provided that the stages of         outlet for basic agricultural products;
production during which the finished product acquires
its characteristics and definitive properties are completed
0) OJ No C 189, 23. 7. 1982, p. 7.                                 (2) O J N o L 3 3 , 8. 2. 1979, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 269/16                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 25.10.86
Whereas Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980              Whereas transitional measures are necessary to facilitate
relating to the quality of water intended for human               the changeover to the system introduced by this Regu-
consumption (*) and Council Directive 80/777/EEC of               lation,
15 July 1980 on the approximation of the laws of the
Member States relating to the exploitation and
                                                                  HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
marketing of natural mineral waters (2) lay down the
characteristics of the water which may be used in
foodstuffs; whereas reference should be made thereto;                                        Article 1
                                                                  1.     For the purpose of this Regulation the following
                                                                  terms shall have the following meanings:
Whereas Article 46 of Council Regulation (EEC) No
337/79 of 5 February 1979 on the common organization              (a) Sugar:
of the market in wine (3), as last amended by Regulation
(EEC) No 3805/85 (•*), authorizes certain oenological                  semi-white sugar, white sugar, refined white sugar,
practices and processes; whereas the same practices and                dextrose, fructose, glucose syrup, liquid sugar, invert
processes should be authorized for the production of                   liquid sugar and invert sugar syrup, rectified or
aromatized wines;                                                      unrectified concentrated must;
                                                                  (b) Ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin:
Whereas the same Regulation, in Article 48. and Annex
                                                                       ethyl alcohol obtained from agricultural products
II, and Council Regulation (EEC) N o 339/79 of 5
                                                                       listed in Annex II to the Treaty;
February 1979 defining certain products falling within
heading Nos 20.07, 22.04 and 22.05 of the Common                  (c) Alcoholic strength by volume        or actual alcoholic
Customs Tariff and originating in third countries (5)                  strength by volume:
specify what is to be understood by certain products in
the wine sector; whereas reference should be made to                   the number of volumes of pure alcohol at 20 °C
these definitions;                                                     contained in 100 volumes of the product at the same
                                                                       temperature;
Whereas the proposal for a Council Directive on the               (d) Potential alcoholic strength by volume:
approximation of the laws of the Member States relating
to flavourings for use in foodstuffs and to source                     the number of volumes of pure alcohol at 20 °C
materials for their production (6) contains proposals for              which would be produced by total fermentation of
definitions of various terms liable to be used in                      the sugar contained in 100 volumes of the product at
connection with flavouring; whereas the same                           the same temperature;
terminology should be used in this text, although it
should be adapted in line with the Council's findings             (e) Total alcoholic strength by volume:
concerning the proposal for a Directive in question;
                                                                       the sum of the actual         and potential  alcoholic
                                                                       strengths by volume.
Whereas it is preferable to act by way of a Regulation in
                                                                  2.     For the purposes of this Regulation the following
order to ensure the uniform and simultaneous
                                                                  terms shall have the following meanings:
implementation of the measures in question; whereas,
since the Treaty makes no other provision for measures            (a) Aromatized     wine:
to this effect in respect of industrial products such as
aromatized wines, these measures should also be adopted                a beverage which is produced from wine and/or
on the basis of Article 235 of the Treaty;                             must as referred to in Article 3, to which, except in
                                                                       certain cases, spirit of viticultural origin and/or
                                                                       alcohol of agricultural origin have been added,
Whereas, to simplify and expedite the procedure, the                   which has been flavoured and to which sugar may
Commission should be instructed to adopt implementing                  have been added.
measures of a technical nature; whereas, for this
                                                                       The term 'aromatized wine' may be replaced by the
purpose, provision should be made for a procedure
whereby the Member States and the Commission can                       term 'wine-based aperitif;
cooperate closely within an Implementation Committee;
                                                                  (b)    Vermouth:
                                                                       aromatized wine which has been prepared solely
                                                                       from wine as referred to in Article 3 and the charac-
0)  OJ No L 229, 30. 8. 1980, p. 11.                                   teristic taste of which is obtained by the use of
O   OJ No L 229, 30. 8. 1980, p. 1.                                    appropriate substance always including wormwood
O   O J N o L 5 4 , 5. 3. 1979, p. 1.                                  (Artemisia vulgaris L.). It may not contain any
(4) OJ No L 367, 31. 12. 1985, p. 39.                                  colouring matter and may be sweetened only by
C)  OJ No L 54, 5. 3. 1979, p. 57.                                     means of sugar and rectified concentrated grape
(6) OJ No C 144, 13. 2. 1980, p. 9.                                    must;
 ---pagebreak--- 25.10.86                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 269/17
(c) Americano:                                                                   grape must as defined in points 2, 3, 4, and 5
                                                                                 of Annex II to Regulation (EEC) No 337/79;
     aromatized wine with a predominantly bitter taste to                        use may also be made of imported fresh grape
     which yellow and red colouring matter as provided                           must with fermentation arrested by the
     for in the relevant Community rules has been added;                         addition     of     alcohol   and     imported
                                                                                 concentrated grape must as defined in Article
(d) Bitter aromatized wine:                                                      2 of Regulation (EEC) No 339/79.
     aromatized wine (to be stated in characters at least              (b) Wine and must used in the preparation of
     one-third of the size of those used for the words                      aromatized wines must, after a maximum
     'bitter' or 'amer') with a characteristic bitter flavour.              enrichment of 2 % by volume, have a minimum
                                                                            total alcoholic strength of 10 % by volume;
3.     The following terms shall be used in conjunction
with those defined in paragraph 2:
                                                                       (c) Save as otherwise provided, wine or must used in
(a) Dry: in the case of aromatized wines with a sugar                       the preparation of an aromatized wine, before
     content of less than 50 grams per litre.                               enrichment, must be present in the finished
                                                                            product in a proportion of not less than 75 %.
(b) Sweet: in the case of aromatized wines with a sugar
     content of more than 130 grams per litre.
                                                                       However, this proportion shall be 70 % for dry
                                                                       aromatized wines and for certain sweet aromatized
(c) Egg: in the case of aromatized wine to which the
                                                                       wines to be determined.
     yolk of hen's eggs or extracts thereof have been
     added and which has a sugar content of more than
     200 grams per litre.
                                                                    2.    The addition to an aromatized wine of substances
                                                                    other than those expressly authorized shall disqualify
(d) Soda or equivalent term: in the case of aromatized
                                                                    that beverage from the use of the restricted name.
     wine treated with carbon dioxide.
4.     Detailed rules, including the methods of analysis to         3.    Without prejudice to paragraph 1 (b), the
be used, shall be adopted in accordance with the                    oenological practices and processes authorized for wines
procedure laid down in Article 13.                                  and musts in Article 46 of Regulation (EEC) No 337/79
                                                                    shall also be authorized for aromatized wines.
                            Article 2
Special provisions may cover, in particular:                        4.    Detailed rules, including the exceptions provided
                                                                    for in paragraph 1 (c), the addition referred to in
(a) the use of the word 'wine' in association with other            paragraph 2 and any adjustments which may prove
     words and the use of compound words including the              necessary pursuant to paragraph 3, shall be adopted in
     word 'wine';                                                   accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13.
(b) the names of beverages produced by mixing products
     listed in Article 1 (2) and (3) with one another or                                       Article 4
     with another beverage.
                                                                    1.    The addition of water shall be authorized in the
                                                                    preparation of aromatized wines.
These provisions shall be adopted in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 13.
                                                                    The addition of water, the quality of which must meet
                            Article 3                               the requirements as laid down in Directives 80/777/EEC
                                                                    and 80/778/EEC concerning natural mineral water and
 1. (a) In the preparation of aromatized wines only the             the quality of water intended for human consumption,
         following may be used:                                     shall not alter the nature of an aromatized wine.
          (i) as wine: wines which may be offered or
              released for direct human consumption within
              the Community, as listed in Article 48 (2) of         2.    The spirit used in the preparation of aromatized
              Regulation (EEC) No 337/79, and wines as              wines must be solely of viticultural origin, while the ethyl
              defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No           alcohol used in the preparation of aromatized wines
              339/79, excluding aerated sparkling or                must be solely of agricultural origin.
              aerated semi-sparkling wines;
         (ii) as musts: grape must, grape must in fermen-           The ethyl alcohol used to extend or dissolve colouring
              tation, grape must with fermentation arrested         matters, flavourings or any other authorized additives
              by the addition of alcohol and concentrated           must be ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 269/18                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                  25.10.86
The quality of the ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin           Additions to the abovementioned list may be made by
must meet the specifications set out in Annex I.                  the Council acting by a qualified majority on a proposal
                                                                  from the Commission if, to protect producers against
3.    Only natural aromatic substances, substances                unfair competition and to prevent consumers from being
identical with natural aromatic substances and natural            misled or deceived, there is a need for other geo-
aromatic preparations may be used as flavourings in the           graphical ascriptions to indicate the local origin of the
preparation of aromatized wines.                                  raw materials used and/or the particular manufacturing
                                                                  process in the geographical area in question.
Flavourings shall not be considered as colouring matter
even where they contribute to the colour of the beverage.         The geographical ascriptions in question may be used
                                                                  only for those aromatized wines.
4.    Detailed rules, including the methods of analysis to        The areas of production referred to in paragraphs 1 and
be used, shall be adopted in accordance with the                  2 shall be demarcated in accordance with the procedure
procedure laid down in Article 13.                                laid down in Article 13.
                           Article 5
                                                                                              Article 7
1.    To be released for human consumption in the
                                                                  1.     In addition to complying with the national
Community under one of the names listed in Article 1,
                                                                  legislation adopted in accordance with Directive 79/112/
the aromatized wines in question must, except in certain
                                                                  EEC, the labelling, presentation and advertising of the
cases, have a minimum actual alcoholic strength of 15 %
                                                                  aromatized wines defined in Article 1 and intended for
vol.
                                                                  the final consumer shall comply with the provisions of
                                                                  paragraph 2 below.
The minimum strength shall be fixed at 17 % vol. where
the aromatized wine is described as 'dry' and at 18 %
vol. where it is described as 'bitter'. In the case of            2. (a) The name under which the products referred to in
products treated with carbon dioxide, the alcoholic                        Article 1 are sold shall be the name to be used
strength shall be between 8 % and 12 % vol.                                exclusively for such products under Article 6.
                                                                      (b) The alcoholic strength shall be expressed as a
2.    The total alcoholic strength by volume of
                                                                           percentage of the volume and rounded off to the
aromatized wines must be not less than 17,5 °/o vol.,                      nearest half percent.
except in certain cases.
                                                                  3.    The name under which the product is sold, the
3.    The exceptions   referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2,
                                                                  nominal volume and the alcoholic strength must be
including exceptions    in respect of Maiwein, Kalte Ente
                                                                  shown within the same field of vision.
and Gluhwein, shall    be adopted in accordance with the
procedure laid down    in Article 13.
                                                                  4.    The rules governing the labelling of products not
                                                                  intended for the final consumer, including any dero-
                           Article 6                              gations from the labelling rules to take account in
                                                                  particular of warehousing and transport, shall be
1.     Without prejudice to provisions adopted pursuant
                                                                  adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in
to Article 2, the use of the terms referred to in Article
                                                                  Article 13.
1 (2) shall be restricted to the aromatized wines defined
therein, account being taken of the requirements laid
down in Articles 3, 4 and 5. The terms in question must           5.     Indication of the place of manufacture shall be
be used to describe the said wines in the Community.              obligatory for all vermouths and other wines of fresh
                                                                  grapes flavoured with plants or other aromatic sub-
Aromatized wines which do not meet the requirements               stances, The detailed rules of application and more par-
laid down for the products defined in Article 1 (2) of this       ticularly those relating to determination of the place of
Regulation may not bear the names assigned therein to             manufacture shall be determined in accordance with the
those products.                                                   procedure laid down in Article 13.
2.    The geographical ascriptions which are listed in                                        Article 8
Annex II and which may be used in addition to or
instead of the names referred to in paragraph 1, may be           Expressions containing words such as 'like', 'type', or
used only by the territories to which they refer, provided        'style' may not be used to describe an aromatized wine.
that the production stage during which the product
acquired its character and its definitive qualities took                                      Article 9
place in the geographical area concerned. Specific
national rules on production, when they exist, shall              1.     Each Member State shall be responsible for the
continue to be applied insofar as they are compatible             supervision and protection of aromatized wines marketed
with Community law.                                               in accordance with this Regulation.
 ---pagebreak--- 25.10. 86                               Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 269/19
2.    In order to eliminate fraud and imitation the                                          Article 13
Commission shall, using the procedure laid down in
Article 13, draw up arrangements for the use of auth-              1.     Where the procedure laid down in this Article is to
enticating documents when the aromatized wines listed              be followed, the Chairman shall refer the matter to the
in Annex II are exported from the Community.                       Committee either on his own initiative or at the request
                                                                   of a representative of a Member State.
3.       Other detailed rules shall be adopted in
                                                                   2.     The representative of the Commission shall submit
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13.             a draft of the measures to be adopted. The Committee
                                                                   shall deliver its opinion on such rules within a period to
                         Article 10                                be set by the Chairman according to the urgency of the
1.    Subject to reciprocal arrangements, imported                 questions under consideration. An opinion shall be
                                                                   adopted by a majority of fifty-four votes.
aromatized wines intended for human consumption and
bearing a geographical ascription may qualify for the              3.     The Commission shall adopt measures which shall
supervision and protection referred to in Article 9 for the        apply immediately. However, if these measures are not in
purposes of being marketed within the Community.                   accordance with the opinion of the Committee, they
                                                                   shall forthwith be communicated by the Commission to
2.    The provisions of paragraph 1 shall be implemented
                                                                   the Council. In that event, the Commission may defer
by agreements to be negotiated and concluded with the
                                                                   application of the measures for one month.
third countries concerned under the procedure laid down
in Article 113 of the Treaty.                                      The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a
                                                                   different decision within one month.
3.    Detailed rules shall be adopted in accordance with
the procedure laid down in Article 13.                                                       Article 14
                                                                   The Committee may consider any other question
                         Article 11
                                                                   referred to it by its Chairman, either on his own
1.    This Regulation shall not apply to aromatized                initiative or at the request of the representative of a
wines intended for export from the Community, except               Member State.
for those listed in Annex II.
                                                                                             Article 15
2.    However, additional rules or derogations may be
adopted in respect of aromatized wines listed in Annex II          In order to facilitate the changeover from the present
and intended for export, to the extent that this is made           arrangements to those introduced by this Regulation,
necessary by the legislation of third countries.                   transitional measures shall be adopted in accordance
                                                                   with the procedure laid down in Article 13.
3.    Detailed rules shall be adopted in accordance with
                                                                   Such transitional measures shall be applicable for not
the procedure laid down in Article 13.
                                                                   more than two years from the date on which this Regu-
                                                                   lation enters into force.
                         Article 12
1.    An Implementation Committee for Aromatized                                             Article 16
Wines, hereinafter referred to as the 'Committee', shall           This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
be set up consisting of representatives of the Member              following that of its publication in the Official Journal of
States and chaired by a representative of the                      the European Communities.
Commission.
                                                                   It shall apply with effect from 1 July 1986.
2.    Within the Committee the votes of Member States
shall be weighted in accordance with Article 148 (2) of            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
the Treaty. The Chairman shall not vote.                           directly applicable in all Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 269/20                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  25.10.86
                                                             ANNEX I
               Characteristics of Ethyl Alcohol of Agricultural Origin used in the preparation of Aromatized 'Wines
           1. Organoleptic characteristics                                                  No detectable taste other
                                                                                           than that of the raw
                                                                                           material
           2. Minimum alcoholic strength by volume                                         96 % vol.
           3. Maximum level of residues
              — Total acidity
                 expressed in g of acetic acid per hi of alcohol at 100 % vol.               1,5 %
              — Esters
                 expressed in g of ethyl acetate per hi of alcohol at 100 % vol.             1,3 %
              — Aldehydes
                 expressed in g of acetaldehyde per hi of alcohol at 100 % vol.              0,5 %
              — Higher alcohols
                 expressed in g of methyl-2 propanol-1 per hi of alcohol at
                 100 % vol.                                                                  0,5 %
              — Methanol
                 expressed in g per hi of alcohol at 100 % vol.                             50
              — Dry extract
                 expressed in g per hi of alcohol at 100 °/o vol.                            1,5 %
              — Volatile bases containing nitrogen
                 expressed in g of nitrogen per hi of alcohol at 100 % vol.                  0,1
              — Furfural                                                                    not detectable.
                                                     ANNEX II
                                              AROMATIZED WINES
                                              Geographical Ascriptions
                                             referred to in Article 6 (2)
           Vermouth de Chambery,
           Turin vermouth.