Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2417/85 of 27 August 1985 concerning the reduction in the purchase price for wines referred to in Article 14b of Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 in respect of the 1985/86 wine-growing year

COMMISSION  REGULATION (EEC) No 2417/85
of 27 August 1985
concerning the reduction in the purchase price for wines referred to in Article 14b of Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 in respect of the 1985/86 wine-growing year
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 798/85 (2), and in particular Articles 14b and 65 thereof,
Whereas Article 14b of Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 provides, in the case of certain distillation schemes, for a reduction in the purchase price paid to producers who have increased the alcoholic strength of their wine by the addition of sucrose or concentrated grape must in respect of which aid has been applied for or received under Article 14 of the said Regulation; whereas this reduction must take into account the commercial benefits accruing from enrichment;
Whereas there are no officially recognized methods of analysis for determining whether a given batch of wine has been enriched using one of the said techniques; whereas it is furthermore very difficult to establish a link between the enrichment carried out by individual producers and the wine they send for distillation; whereas an exact determination of the commercial benefits accruing to each producer is accordingly possible only at the cost of an excessive amount of administrative effort which is liable to delay the payment of aid and render the overall package of intervention measures ineffective; whereas, therefore, a flat-rate system should be applied to all producers under which the purchase price for wine is based on the average natural alcoholic strength normally achieved in each wine-growing zone, with provision that only producers who have not enriched any part of their production by adding sucrose or concentrated grape must in respect of which aid has been received under Article 14 of Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 are to be paid according to the natural alcoholic strength actually achieved by the wine sent for distillation, even where this is above the maximum limit set;
Whereas the natural alcoholic strength in a given zone can vary widely from one wine year to the next; whereas the average should thus be determined for each wine year;
Whereas, for calculation of the aid for the product obtained from distillation operations under Article 41 of Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 and of the quantity of alcohol that can be taken over by the intervention agency under that Article, limits on actual alcoholic strength identical to those to be used for calculation of the purchase price for the wine in question should be used;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Wine,