CELEX: 31974R1877
Language: en
Date: 1974-07-15 00:00:00
Title: Regulation (EEC) No 1877/74 of the Council of 15 July 1974 on the distillation of the by-products of wine making

20. 7. 74                            Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 198/3
                              REGULATION (EEC) No 1877/74 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                     of 15 July 1974
                              on the distillation of the by-products of wine making
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                    moreover, permits the distillation of wine in the
COMMUNITIES,                                                   absence of grape marc or wine lees ; whereas, under
                                                               these conditions, it is logical to allow the production
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European          of a potable spirit from wine as well as a potable spirit
Economic Community ;                                            from grape marc ;
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No
816/70 (') of 28 April 1970 laying down additional              Whereas the production of a potable spirit must lead
provisions for the common organization of the market            to the release from the obligation to deliver alcohol
in wine, as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No                 only in respect of the quantity of alcohol contained in
1532/74 (2), and in particular Article 24 (2) and (3)           the potable spirit produced ;
thereof ;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;             Whereas, in order to prevent potable spirits of medi­
                                                                ocre quality from being produced, it is necessary, in
Whereas the fixing of the price to be paid for alcohol          the absence of any Community criteria on the subject,
delivered to intervention agencies under the obliga­            to provide that the potable spirits produced should
tion to distil the by-products of wine making, referred         conform to national provisions in force , whereas, to
to in the first subparagraph of Article 24 (2) of Regula­       ensure that these are observed, provision should be
tion (EEC) No 816/70, and that of the maximum                   made for inspection ;
amount of the contribution to be made by the
Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guid­
ance and Guarantee Fund to the costs borne by those             Whereas the first subparagraph of Article 24 (3) of
agencies are closely linked to the fixing of the guide          Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 provides that certain
price ; whereas there should therefore be the same              production regions may be exempted from the obliga­
interval and time limit for both these operations ;             tion to distil the by-products of wine making ;
                                                                whereas in Germany and Luxembourg grape marcs
Whereas the intervention agencies designated by                 and wine lees generally contain little alcohol and the
Member States must buy in alcohol delivered to them             costs involved in recovering it would be very high ;
in fulfilment of the obligation to distil the                   under these conditions, producers in these regions
by-products of wine making at a price at which the              should not be obliged to distil their grape marcs and
producer subject to the obligation to distil is not             wine lees, while remaining subject nevertheless to the
placed at a disadvantage in relation to the producer             prohibitions of Article 24 ( 1 ) of that Regulation ;
who is not subject to that obligation ;
Whereas, in the absence of any market in ethyl                  Whereas the obligation to distil is a burden for the
alcohol at Community level, the intervention agencies            isolated producer who makes only a small quantity of
responsible for marketing that alcohol risk having to           wine ; whereas such obligation would involve him in
resell it at a price lower than the buying-price ;               transport costs for his grape marcs and wine lees out
whereas it is necessary to provide that, in such cases,         of all proportion to the return which he could expect
the difference between the buying-in price and the               from the alcohol which might be recovered ; whereas
selling price of that alcohol can be met, within a               such producers should therefore also be exempted
maximum amount, by the Guarantee Section of the                  from the obligation to distil but remain subject,
European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund,               nevertheless, to the prohibitions referred to above ;
provided that the contribution does not exceed the               whereas, however, some of these small-scale producers
difference ;                                                     are already in the habit of distilling their grape marcs
                                                                 and wine lees and whereas they should be allowed to
Whereas the third subparagraph of Article 24 (2) of              continue in this practice ; whereas they should there­
Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 provides that the                     fore be allowed to forego exemption and become
producer may be discharged from the obligation to                thereby comparable in all respects to producers who
distil by producing potable spirits ; whereas the first          are not exempt ; whereas in order to prevent deliveries
subparagraph of Article 24 (2) of that Regulation,               of alcohol to the intervention agencies from becoming
                                                                 too irregular, an isolated producer should , once he has
(') OJ No L 99, 5 . 5 . 1970, p. 1 .                             foregone exemption, undertake to continue to do so,
(2) OJ No L 166, 21 . 6. 1974, p. 1 .                            until the validity of this Regulation expires ;
 ---pagebreak--- No L 198 /4                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                20 . 7. 74
Whereas producers who deliver their grape marcs for               fixed annually before 1 August for the following wine­
the manufacture of oenocyanine generally supply                   growing year.
unfermented grape marcs ; whereas the processes to
which these are subjected in order to extract the oeno­
cyanine render them thereafter unsuitable for fermen­                                        Article 2
tation and distillation ; whereas such producers should
be exempt pro rata in relation to their production of              1 . The buying-in price shall be fixed at a level at
grape marcs ; whereas an exact calculation is not                 which the producer distilling his by-products of wine
possible ; whereas, therefore, provision should be                 making, or having them distilled, can be assured of a
made for a fixed reduction in the general rate ;                   return comparable to that which he would have had if
                                                                   he had not been subject to the obligation to distil,
Whereas, in accordance with Article 10 ( 1 ) of Council            referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 24 (2)
Regulation (EEC) No 817/70 (•) of 28 April 1970                    of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 .
laying down special provisions relating to quality
wines produced in specified regions, as last amended               2. The buying-in price shall be fixed per hectolitre/
by Regulation (EEC) No 2680/72 (2), a yield per                    degree of alcohol . It shall apply to unpacked goods,
hectare is fixed for each of the quality wines psr,                ex-distillery loaded into a means of transport chosen
which facilitates observance of the prohibition against            by the intervention agency.
the pressing of wine lees and over-pressing of grapes ;
whereas, moreover, the marcs and lees of certain                   The actual alcoholic strength of the products obtained
quality wines psr contain little alcohol and whereas it            from the distillation of the by-products of wine
is useful to be able to apply a reduced rate to those              making and delivered to the intervention agency may
products ;                                                         not be less than 52° .
Whereas the obligation to distil is a burden for
producers whose vineyards are situated in small                                              Article 3
islands and who do not have adequate transport links
at their disposal ; whereas such obligation would                  The     maximum      amount    of  contribution  from    the
involve them in transport costs for products subject to            Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guid­
the obligation to distil which would exceed the return             ance and Guarantee Fund shall be fixed per hectoli­
on the alcohol obtained ; whereas, provision should                tre/degree of alcohol .
therefore be made for producers whose vineyards are
situated in small islands to be discharged from the
obligation to distil , while nevertheless remaining                                          Article 4
subject to the prohibitions contained in Article 24 ( 1 )
of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 ;                                     1.     Contribution from the Guarantee Section of the
                                                                    European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund
Whereas the provisions concerning the financing of                  shall be paid, up to the maximum amount laid down
intervention laid down in Council Regulation (EEC)                  in accordance with Article 1 , only where, during a
 No 729/70 (3) of 21 April 1970 on the financing of                given budgetary year, the overall expenditure of an
the common agricultural policy should be extended to                intervention agency for the buying-in of alcohol
apply also to the distillation of the by-products of                obtained by the distillation of the by-products of wine
wine making ;                                                       making is greater than the income from the sale of
                                                                    such alcohol .
Whereas the period of application of this Regulation
 should be limited so that future developments in this              2. If the difference referred to in paragraph 1 is less
 field may be taken into account,                                   than the maximum amount multiplied by the quanti­
                                                                    ties sold , the contribution shall be equal to that differ­
                                                                    ence .
 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                                              Article 5
                            Article 1
 The price to be paid to producers for alcohol deliv­                1 . Producers may, in partial or total discharge of
 ered to intervention agencies, hereinafter called the              the obligation to distil , produce or have produced
 'buying-in price', and the maximum amount of the                   potable spirits of grape marcs or potable spirits of
 contribution by the Guarantee Section of the Euro­                 wine from their own products .
 pean Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund
 towards the costs devolving on these agencies shall be             2 . The quantity of alcohol , expressed as pure
                                                                    alcohol , contained in the potable spirits shall be
 (') OJ No L 99 , 5 . 5 . 1970, p. 20 .                             deducted from the quantity of alcohol which must be
 (2 ) OJ No L 289 , 27 . 12 . 1972, p. 1 .                          delivered pursuant to the first subparagraph of Article
 (3 ) OJ No L 94, 28 . 4. 1970, p. 13 .                             24 (2) of Regulation ( EEC) No 816/70 .
 ---pagebreak--- 20 . 7 . 74                          Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 198 / 5
3 . The production of potable spirits may have the             2. Producers who deliver their grape marcs for the
effect mentioned in paragraph 1 only if :                      manufacture of oenocyanine may be subject to a
                                                               reduced rate .
(a) the quality of the potable spirit obtained conforms
     to national provisions on the subject ; the producer      3 . Producers of certain quality wines psr may be
     or distiller shall supply proof thereof to the compe­     subject to reduced rates in respect of that part of their
     tent agency ;                                             harvest which can qualify for such description .
(b) it is carried out under the supervision of the
     competent agency ; the producer and the distiller                                  Article 8
     are required to permit that supervision at any
     moment during distillation .                               Producers whose vineyards are situated in the Italian
                                                                islands, except Sicily and Sardinia, shall not be subject
                           Article 6                            to the obligation to distil .
Producers whose vineyards are situated in wine­                                         Article 9
growing zone A or in the German part of wine­
growing zone B shall not be subject to the obligation           Articles 4 and 5 of Regulation ( EEC) No 729/70 shall
to distil .                                                     apply to contribution from the Guarantee Section of
                                                                the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee
                           Article 7                            Fund, provided for in this Regulation .
 1.    Isolated producers who, during a wine-growing                                    Article 10
year, do not make more than 30 hectolitres of wine
shall not be subject to the obligation to distil .              This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
                                                                following its publication in the Official Journal of
However, such producers may forego this exemption .             the European Communities.
Such action shall bind them for the period from the
date on which this action is taken until the validity of        It shall apply to the 1974/75, 1975/76 and 1976/77
this Regulation expires .                                       wine-growing years .
                This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                States .
                Done at Brussels, 15 July 1974.
                                                                            For the Council
                                                                              The President
                                                                           Christian BONNET