Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2707/86 of 28 August 1986 laying down detailed rules for the description and presentation of sparkling and aerated sparkling wines

COMMISSION  REGULATION (EEC) No 2707/86
of 28 August 1986
laying down detailed rules for the description and presentation of sparkling and aerated sparkling wines
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 of 5 February 1979 on the common organization of the market in wine (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3805/85 (2), and in particular Article 54 (5) thereof,
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85 (3), as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1626/86 (4), lays down general rules for the description and presentation of sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines; whereas the detailed rules for applying the principles laid down in the abovementioned Regulation must be adopted;
Whereas, since it is compulsory throughout the Community to show the actual alcoholic strength of sparkling wines and of aerated sparkling wines detailed rules should be enacted that will create uniform conditions of competition and so facilitate consumer choice; whereas these rules should be made to correspond with the provisions of the Council Directive 76/766/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to alcohol tables (5);
Whereas the first subparagraph of Article 3 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85 leaves to operators the choice between showing the name or business name of a producer established in the Community or of a vendor established in the Community; whereas, for the sake of better consumer information and better information of the authorities responsible for supervising the trade in sparkling wines, it should be made compulsory for the name to be preceded by the professional status of the person responsible for labelling; whereas there is no need to require this if it is apparent from the business name that the operator is a producer of sparkling wine or if the producer has had the sparkling wine produced on his behalf by another undertaking, provided in such cases that this is made clear by an expression such as 'cuvée spéciale pour . . . . .' or 'Hausmarke' accompanying the name or business name of the producer; whereas neither is there any need to require it in the case of vendors if the name of the producer is accompanied by an expression indicating his professional status;
Whereas to conform with the second indent of Article 5 (2) (c) of Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85, a list of the specific traditional terms that may be used as sales descriptions of quality sparkling wines psr should be drawn up;
Whereas under the third subparagraph of Article 5 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85, in the case of quality sparkling wines of aromatic type and of quality sparkling wines of aromatic type produced in specified regions, indication of the product type may be replaced by indication of the residual sugar content determined by analysis; whereas, in view of the inevitable variations between individual vats when the said sparkling wines are produced, some tolerance should be allowed but of limited extent so that consumers are not misled as to product characteristics;
Whereas rules on specific descriptions, conforming with Articles 5 (2) (f) and 14 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85, should be laid down in order to prevent any risk of confusion between sparkling wines on the one hand and the aerated sparkling wines and sparkling drinks obtained by alcoholic fermentation of a fruit or another agricultural raw material on the other; whereas it should be required that the sales description of drinks other than sparkling wines be shown particularly clearly on the labelling;
Whereas the second indent of the first subparagraph of Article 6 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85 makes provision for the names of geographical units to be assigned to quality sparkling wines; whereas a restricted list of these geographical units should be established;
Whereas certain provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85 are and certain provisions of the present Regulation will be applicable to sparkling wines originating in third countries the rules covering the production of which
have been recognized as equivalent to those set out in Title III of Council Regulation (EEC) No 358/79 (6); whereas a list of these wines should be established;
Whereas, in order to harmonize throughout the Community and for all categories of wine the use of variety names and synonyms and so establish the formal conditions of competition, the existing roles on the description of wines and musts should be applied to the description of sparkling wines; whereas, in order to facilitate such application, a list of the variety names and synonyms that may be used for the description of sparkling wines should be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities;
Whereas the third subparagraph of Article 6 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85 stipulates that the words 'méthode champenoise' may be used on the labelling of certain sparkling wines only for a transitional period ending on 31 August 1994 and only together with an equivalent expression denoting this production method; whereas a list should be drawn up of the expressions that may accompany and later replace the words 'méthode champenoise';
Whereas, in order to facilitate the change over from national rules on the description and presentation of sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines to Community rules, transitional provisions will be required;
Whereas the Management Committee for wine has not delivered an opinion within the time limit set by the Chairman,