CELEX: 31977R1678
Language: en
Date: 1977-07-19 00:00:00
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 1678/77 of 19 July 1977 supplementing Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 by introducing new provisions relating to oenological practices and processes

No L 187/ 10                              Official Journal of the European Communities                              27. 7. 77
                                         COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1678/77
                                                          of 19 July 1977
               supplementing Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 by introducing new provisions
                                        relating to oenological practices and processes
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                             'Article 26b
COMMUNITIES,
                                                                        1.     The volatile acid content may not exceed :
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 43                        — 18 milliequivalents for partially fermented
thereof,                                                                     grape must,
                                                                        — 18 milliequivalents for white wines,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                        — 20 milliequivalents for red wines.
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia­
ment ( 1),                                                              2. The levels referred to in paragraph 1 shall
                                                                        apply :
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee (2),                                                   — to products produced from grapes harvested
                                                                             within the Community, at the production stage
Whereas Title IV of Council Regulation (EEC) No                              and at all stages of marketing,
816/70 of 28 April 1970 laying down additional provi­
sions for the common organization of the market in                      — to partially fermented grape must and wines
wine (3), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No                             originating in third countries, at all stages
1 677/77 (4), lays down rules relating to certain oenolog­                   following their entry into the geographical
ical processes ;                                                             territory of the Community.
Whereas, in order to improve the functioning of the                     3. Provision may be made for exceptions to
common organization of the market in wine and thus                      paragraph 1 as regards :
facilitate the free circulation of wines in the Commu­
nity, whether they originate in Member States or non­                   (a) certain quality wines psr and certain table
member countries, it is essential to draw up additional                      wines designated pursuant to Article 30 (2)
common rules consisting, in particular, in defining on                       when they :
a Community level the oenological practices and                              — have matured over a period of at least two
processes which, for the majority of the products, are                           years, or
the only ones authorized ; whereas, in order to
guarantee a certain quality level, it should be laid                         — have been produced according to particular
down that these practices and processes can only be                               methods ;
used for the purpose of ensuring proper vinification                    (b) wines with a total alcoholic strength of at least
and/or preservation ; whereas the Member States                              13
should be allowed to authorize for experimental
purposes for a determined period certain oenological                    4. The detailed rules for the application of this
practices and processes not laid down in this Regula­                   Article, and in particular the exceptions referred to
tion ;
                                                                        in paragraph 3, shall be adopted in accordance
Whereas, in order to ease the transition to the new                     with the procedure laid down in Article 7 of Regu­
                                                                        lation No 24.'
system laid down by this Regulation, transitional provi­
sions should be laid down and the possibility of transi­
tional measures provided for,
                                                                                             Article 2
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :                                        The following Article shall be added to Regulation
                                                                     (EEC) No 816/70 :
                             Article 1                                   Article 26c
The following Article shall be added to Regulation                       1 . Only those oenological practices and
(EEC) No 816/70 :
                                                                         processes referred to in this Regulation, and in
                                                                         particular in Annex Ila or in other Community
(')  OJ  No C 23, 8 . 3 . 1974, p. 33 .
(2)  OJ  No C 101 , 23 .  11 . 1973, p. 1 .                              rules applicable to the wine sector, shall be author­
(3 ) OJ  No L 99, 5 . 5 . 1970 , p. 1 .                                  ized for the products defined under points 1 to 4,
(4)  See page 6 of this   Official Journal .                             7 to 10 and 12 of Annex II and for concentrated
 ---pagebreak--- 27 . 7 . 77                             Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 187/ 11
     grape must and sparkling wines as defined in                     where the practice was allowed as at 1 September
     Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 948/70                  1977, provided that the products obtained are not
     of 26 May 1970 defining certain products falling                 sent out of the Member States concerned.
     within heading Nos 20.07, 22.04 and 22.05 of the
     Common Customs Tariff and originating in third                   The use of silver chloride, as referred to in point 2
     countries (*), as last amended by Regulation (EEC)               (w) of Annex Ha, for the purpose of eliminating
     No 681 /75 (2).                                                  defects in the taste or smell of wine, shall be
                                                                      authorized until 31 August 1979 in Member States
     The practices and processes referred to in the first             where the practice was allowed as at 1 September
     subparagraph may only be applied for the purpose                 1977, provided that the products obtained are not
     of ensuring proper vinification and/or preservation              sent out of the Member States concerned.
     of the products concerned ; in particular, blending
     or coupage shall be prohibited :                                 Member States may authorize the use of copper
     — of table wines with each other, or                             sulphate, as referred to in point 2 (x) of Annex IIa,
                                                                      for the purpose of eliminating defects in the taste
     — of wines suitable for producing table wines                    or smell of wine in production regions where
         with each other or with table wines, or                      copper sulphate has not been used for the treat­
     — of quality wines psr with each other, or                       ment of the vines.
     — of imported wines with each other,
                                                                      The use of silver chloride and copper sulphate for
     if one of the ingredients does not comply with the               one and the same wine shall be prohibited.
     requirements of this Regulation or with those
     adopted pursuant to this Regulation.                             4. Except as otherwise provided for by the
                                                                      Council, acting on a proposal from the Commis­
     The purity and identification specifications, for the            sion in accordance with the voting procedure laid
     oenological substances referred to in Annex IIa,                 down in Article 43 (2) of the Treaty, the addition
     shall be those laid down by the relevant provision               of water to the products referred to in Article 1
     of Community law or, failing this, those specifica­              shall be prohibited. However, the dissolving of
     tions which are in conformity with national law.                 certain oenological substances in water shall be
                                                                      tolerated if it is an essential condition of their use .
     2.    By way of derogation from the first subpara­
     graph of paragraph 1 Member States may, in                       5. The Council, acting on a proposal from the
     respect of the oenological practices and processes               Commission in accordance with the voting proce­
     referred to in Annex IIa, impose stricter condi­                 dure laid down in Article 43 (2) of the Treaty, may
     tions to ensure the preservation of the essential                restrict or prohibit the use of the oenological prac­
     characteristics of quality wines psr and table wines             tices and processes referred to in Annex IIa in
     designated pursuant to Article 30 (2), produced in               respect of the products referred to in paragraph 1 .
     their territory.
                                                                      6. The following shall be adopted in accordance
     Member States shall notify the Commission of the
     provisions adopted pursuant to the first subpara­                with the procedure laid down in Article 7 of Regu­
                                                                      lation No 24 :
     graph .
                                                                      — detailed rules on the comparability of certain
     The Commission shall take the necessary steps to                      oenological practices and processes employed
     bring such provisions to the attention of the other                   in third countries with those specified in
     Member States .
                                                                           Annex IIa,
     3.    The use of oenocyanin, as referred to in                   — the other detailed rules for the application of
     point 2 (t) of Annex IIa, for the purpose of                          this Article .'
     obtaining the correct colouring of red wines only,
     shall be authorized until 31 August 1980 solely in
     respect of producers and in wine regions where                                         Article 3                      s
     such use is customary or exceptional, in accor­
     dance with the laws in force on 1 June 1970 .                The following Article shall be added to Regulation
                                                                  (EEC) No 816/70 :
     The use of sodium-based cation exchange resins,
                                                                       'Article 26d
     as referred to in point 2 (u) of Annex IIa, for the
     purpose of preventing precipitating of excess
     calcium when the wine is marketed, shall be                       1.    For experimental purposes, each Member
     authorized until 31 August 1980 in Member States                 State may authorize, for a maximum period of
                                                                      three years, the use of certain oenological practices
(!) OJ No L 114, 27 . 5 . 1970, p . 6 .                               or processes not provided for in this Regulation,
(*) OJ No L 72, 20 . 3 . 1975, p . 48 .                               on condition that :
 ---pagebreak---  No L 187/ 12                         Official Journal of the European Communities                               27. 7 . 77
    — the quantities to which any practices or                         (d) use of carbon dioxide or nitrogen either
         processes apply do not exceed a maximum of                         alone or combined so as to create an inert
         SO 000 hectolitres per annum for any one expe­                     atmosphere ;
         riment,
                                                                       (e) use of yeasts for wine production ;
    — the products obtained are not sent outside the
         Member State on whose territory the experi­                   (f) addition of diammonium phosphate or of
         ment was conducted.                                                ammonium sulphate up to 0-3 g/1 respec­
                                                                            tively and of thiamin up to 0-6 mg/1, to
    2. Before the expiry of the period referred to in                       encourage the growth of yeasts ;
    paragraph 1 , the Member State concerned shall                     (g) use of sulphur dioxide or potassium metabi­
    send the Commission a report on the experiment                          sulphite which may also be called potas­
    authorized. The Commission shall notify the other                       sium disulphite or potassium pyrosulphite ;
    Member States of the results of the experiment.
                                                                       (h) elimination of sulphur dioxide by physical
    Depending on these results, the Member State
                                                                            processes ;
    concerned may submit to the Commission a
    request for authorization to continue the experi­                  (i) treatment of white must and new white
    ment, possibly with a larger quantity than in the                       wines still in fermentation with charcoal for
    initial experiment, for a further maximum period                        oenological use, up to a maximum of 100 g
    of three years. The Member State concerned shall                        of dry product per hectolitre ;
    forward the appropriate documentation in support                   (j) clarification by means of one or more of the
    of its request.                                                         following substances for oenological use :
    3. The Commission, acting in accordance with                            — edible gelatines,
    the procedure laid down in Article 7 of Regulation                      — isinglass,
    No 24, shall take a decision on the request                             — casein and potassium caseinate,
    referred to in paragraph 2. At the same time it                         — animal albumin (egg albumin and dried
    may decide that the experiment may be carried                               blood powder),
    out under the same conditions in other Member                          — bentonite ,
    States .                                                                — silicon dioxide as a gel or colloidal solu­
                                                                                tion,
   4. After gathering all the information on the                           — kaolin ,
   experiment the Commission may, at the end of                            — tannin,
   the period referred to in paragraph 1 and, where                        — pectinolytic enzymes ;
   applicable, at the end of the period referred to in                (k) use of sorbic acid ;
    paragraph 2, submit to the Council a proposal for
   definitive authorization of the oenological practice               (1) use of tartaric acid for acidification purposes
   or process covered by the experiment. In that case,                     under the conditions laid down in Articles
   the    Council    shall  act   in accordance   with  the                 20 ( 1 ), (2) and 22 ;
   voting procedure laid down in Article 43 (2) of the                (m) use of one of the following substances for
   Treaty.                                                                 deacidification purposes under the condi­
                                                                           tions laid down in Articles 20 ( 1 ) and 22 :
   5.     The detailed rules for the application of this
   Article shall, if necessary, be adopted in accor­                        — neutral potassium tartrate,
   dance with the procedure laid down in Article 7 of                       — potassium bicarbonate,
   Regulation No 24.'
                                                                            — calcium carbonate, which may contain
                                                                                 small quantities of the double calcium
                           Article 4
                                                                                 salt of L ( + ) tartaric and L (—) malic
                                                                                 acids .
The following Annex shall be added to Regulation
(EEC) No 816/70 :
                                                                   2. Processes and oenological practices which may
   'ANNEX Ha                                                          be applied to partially fermented grape must
   1 . Oenological practices and processes which may                  intended for direct human consumption in its
       be applied to fresh grapes, grape must, partially              natural state, wine suitable for producing table
       fermented grape must, concentrated grape must                  wine, table wine, sparkling wine :
       and new wine still in fermentation :
                                                                      (a) use in dry wines, and in quantities "not
       (a) aeration ;                                                      exceeding 5 % of fresh lees which are
                                                                           sound and undiluted and contain yeasts
       (b) thermal treatment ;
                                                                           resulting from the recent vinification of dry
       (c) centrifuging and filtration, with or without                    wines ;
             an added inert filtering agent on condition
             that no undesirable residue is left in the               (b) aeration ;
             product so treated ;                                     (c) thermal treatment ;
 ---pagebreak--- 27. 7 . 77                              Official Journal of the European Communities                         No L 187/ 13
        (d) centrifuging and filtration, with or without                  (u) use of sodium-based cation exchange resins
              an added inert filtering agent on condition                     under the conditions referred to in Article
              that no undesirable residue is left in the                      26c (3);
              product so treated ;
                                                                          (v) use of discs of pure paraffin impregnated
        (e) use of carbon dioxide or nitrogen, either                         with allyl isothiocyanate to create a sterile
              alone or combined, to create an inert atmos­                    atmosphere, solely in Member States where
                                                                              it is traditional and in so far as it is not
              phere. The carbon dioxide content of wine
              preserved in this way may not exceed 2 g/1 ;                    forbidden by national law, provided that
                                                                              they are used only in containers holding
        (f) addition of carbon dioxide, provided that                         more than 20 litres and that there is no
              the carbon dioxide content of wine so                           trace of allyl isothiocyanate in the wine ;
              treated does not exceed 2 g/1 ;                             (w) treatment by silver chloride under the condi­
        (g) use, as laid down in Community rules, of                          tions laid down in Article 26c (3) provided
              sulphur dioxide or potassium metabisul­                         that the silver content of the product so
               phite which may also be called potassium                       treated is not more than 01 mg/1 ;
               disulphite or potassium pyrosulphite ;                     (x) treatment by up to 20 mg/1 of copper
                                                                              sulphate under the conditions laid down in
         (h) addition of sorbic acid or potassium sorbate                     Article 26c (3) and provided that the copper
               expressed as sorbic acid, provided that the                     content of the product so treated is not
               final content of the treated product on its                     more than 1 mg/1 .'
               release to the market for direct human
               consumption does not exceed 200 mg/1 ;
         (i) addition of up to 1 50 mg/1 of L (—)                                           Article 5
               ascorbic acid ;
         (j) addition of citric acid for wine stabilization        In Article 39 of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 'of
              purposes, provided that the final content in         Annexes I and II' shall be replaced by 'of Annexes I,
              the treated wine does not exceed 1 g/1 ;             II and IIa\
         (m) clarification by means of one or more of
               the following substances for oenological
               use :
                                                                                            Article 6
               —    edible gelatines,                              The transitional measures necessary to facilitate the
               —    isinglass,                                     changeover to the arrangements provided for in this
               —    casein and potassium caseinate,                Regulation, in particular regarding the products
               —    animal albumin (egg albumin and dried          referred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No
                    blood powder),                                 816/70 which, whether imported or not, are of the
               — bentonite,                                        1977 harvest and of previous harvests, shall be
               — silicon dioxide as a gel or colloidal solu­       adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down
                    tion ,                                         in Article 7 of Regulation No 24.
               — kaolin ;
          (n) addition of tannin ;
                                                                                            Article 7
          (o) treatment of white wines with charcoal for
                oenological use, up to 100 mg/1 ;
                                                                   This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
          (p) treatment        with   potassium   ferrocyanide     following its publication in the Official Journal of
                under conditions to be laid down ;                  the European Communities.
          (q) addition of up to 100 mg/1 of metatartaric
                acid ;                                             It shall apply from 1 September 1978 with the excep­
                                                                   tion of the provisions thereof introducing into Regula­
          (r) use of acacia ;                                      tion (EEC) No 816/70 :
          (s) use of DL tartaric acid, under conditions to         — Article 26c (3), and
                be laid down, for precipitating excess             — Annex IIa (2), in so far as Article 26c (3) refers
                calcium ;
                                                                        thereto,
          (t) use of oenocyanin under the conditions laid
                down in Article 26c (3) ;                           which shall apply from 1 September 1977.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 187/ 14                  Official Journal of the European Communities                        27. 7. 77
           This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
           States.
           Done at Brussels, 19 July 1977.
                                                                    For the Council
                                                                      The President
                                                                      A. HUMBLET