Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/273 of 11 December 2017 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the scheme of authorisations for vine plantings, the vineyard register, accompanying documents and certification, the inward and outward register, compulsory declarations, notifications and publication of notified information, and supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the relevant checks and penalties, amending Commission Regulations (EC) No 555/2008, (EC) No 606/2009 and (EC) No 607/2009 and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 436/2009 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/560

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down rules supplementing Regulations (EU) No 1306/2013 and (EU) No 1308/2013, respectively, as regards:

(a) the scheme of authorisations for vine plantings;

(b) the vineyard register;

(c) recognised accompanying documents, certification and rules for imports of wine;

(d) the inward and outward register;

(e) compulsory declarations;

(f) checks and the analytical databank of isotopic data;

(g) competent authorities and mutual assistance between them;

(h) penalties;

(i) notifications and publication of notified information.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/274, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘winegrower’ means a natural or legal person, or a group of natural or legal persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, whose holding is situated within the Union territory, as defined in Article 52 of the Treaty on European Union in conjunction with Article 355 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and who holds an area planted with vines where the produce of this area is used for the commercial production of wine products, or the area benefits from the exemptions for experimental purposes, for setting-up collections of vine varieties intended to preserve genetic resources or for graft nurseries referred to in Article 3(2) of this Regulation;

(b) ‘wine products’ means the products listed in Part XII of Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, except wine vinegar falling within CN codes 2209 00 11 and 2209 00 19 ;

(c) ‘vineyard parcel’ means an agricultural parcel as defined in Article 67(4), point (a), of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 planted with vines either aimed at the commercial production of wine products or benefitting from the exemptions for experimental purposes, for setting-up collections of vine varieties intended to preserve genetic resources or for graft nurseries referred to in Article 3(2) of this Regulation;

(d) ‘abandoned wine-growing area’ means an area planted with vines which is no longer subject to regular cultivation with a view to obtaining a marketable product since more than five wine years, without prejudice to specific cases defined by the Member States, the grubbing up of which no longer entitles the producer to be granted a replanting authorisation in accordance with Article 66 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013;

(e) ‘harvester’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, who gathers the harvest of grapes from an area planted with vines in order to market those grapes for the production of wine products by third parties, or to process them into wine products in his holding, or have them processed on his behalf, with commercial purposes;

(f) ‘processor’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, by whom or on whose behalf the processing of wines is carried out, the result of which being wines, liqueur wines, sparkling and semi-sparkling wines, aerated sparkling and semi-sparkling wines, quality sparkling wines or quality aromatic sparkling wines;

(g) ‘retailer’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, whose business activity includes the sale directly to the consumer of wine and must in small quantities, to be defined by each Member State, having regard to the special features of trade and distribution, but excluding persons who use cellars equipped for storing or facilities for bottling wine in large quantities, and those who engage in itinerant trading in wine transported in bulk;

(h) ‘bottling’ means putting up wine as a final product for commercial purposes in containers of a capacity not exceeding 60 litres;

(i) ‘bottler’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, carrying out bottling of wine or having bottling carried out on his behalf;

(j) ‘merchant’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, other than private consumers or retailers, who holds stocks of wine products with commercial purposes or is involved in their trade and possibly also bottles them, except distilleries;

(k) ‘wine year’ means the marketing year for the wine sector as referred to in Article 6(d) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013;

(l) ‘collection of vine varieties’ means a vineyard parcel planted with multiple vine wine varieties where each variety does not count more than 50 plants.

Member States may decide that the definition of ‘small producer’ does not cover producers who buy fresh grapes, musts or new wine still in fermentation to process them into wine.

CHAPTER II

SCHEME OF AUTHORISATIONS FOR VINE PLANTINGS

Article 3

Areas exempted from the scheme of authorisations for vine plantings

Where no risks of market disturbance are considered to exist, Member States may decide that during the periods referred to in the first subparagraph the grapes produced in those areas and the wine products obtained from those grapes may be marketed. At the end of such periods, the producer shall either:

(a) obtain an authorisation in accordance with Article 64, 66 or 68 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 for the area concerned, so that the grapes produced in that area and the wine products obtained from those grapes can be marketed; or

(b) grub up such an area at his own cost in accordance with Article 71(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013.

Any areas intended for experiments or graft nurseries planted before 1 January 2016 following the granting of new planting rights shall continue to comply after that date with any conditions defined for the use of such rights until the end of the period of the experiment or the period of production of the graft nursery for which they were granted. After the expiry of such periods, the rules laid down in the first and second subparagraphs shall apply.

The exemption referred to in paragraph 1 shall apply to areas intended for setting-up collections of vine varieties only where the purpose of setting-up such collections is the preservation of the genetic resources of vine varieties which are typical of a certain wine-producing region and where the area covered by each collection does not exceed 2 hectares.

Member States may draw up a list of wine grape varieties classified in accordance with Article 81(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 on their territories, which are eligible at national or regional level for the purpose of setting up a collection of varieties for the preservation of genetic resources. Member States may also fix a maximum area for collections of such vine varieties below 2 hectares, as well as a maximum number of vines per variety lower than the ceiling laid down in Article 2(1), point (l) of this Regulation.

The planting or replanting of areas whose wine or vine products are intended solely for the consumption by the household of a natural person, or a group of natural persons who are not winegrowers within the meaning of Article 2(1), point (a), shall be subject to the following conditions:

(a) such area does not exceed 0,1 ha;

(b) the natural person or group of natural persons concerned are not involved in commercial wine production or in the commercial production of other wine products.

For the purposes of this paragraph, Member States may consider certain organisations without a commercial activity as equivalent to the natural person’s household.

Member States may decide that the plantings referred to in the first subparagraph are subject to a notification.

Article 4

Criteria for granting authorisations

Member States may also apply the additional objective and non-discriminatory criterion that the application shall not pose a significant risk of misappropriation of the reputation of specific protected geographical indications, which shall be presumed unless the existence of such risk is demonstrated by the public authorities.

The rules in relation to the application of this additional criterion are laid down in Section B of Annex I.

Member States may also apply the additional objective and non-discriminatory criteria of the prior behaviour of the producer and non-profit organisations with a social purpose that have received lands confiscated in cases of terrorism and other types of crime. The rules in relation to the application of these additional criteria are laid down in Section I of Annex II.

Article 5

Authorisations for anticipated replanting

Member States may make the granting of an authorisation to a producer undertaking to grub up an area planted with vines in accordance with Article 66(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 subject to the requirement to lodge a security.

In any case, if the grubbing up is not carried out by the producers by the end of the fourth year from the date on which new vines were planted, Article 71 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 shall apply in respect of the pledged area which has not been grubbed up.

Article 6

Replanting restrictions

Member States may restrict the replantings on the basis of Article 66(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, where the specific area to be replanted is located in an area for which the issuing of authorisations for new plantings is limited in accordance with Article 63(2), point (b), of that Regulation and provided that the decision is justified by the need to avoid a well-demonstrated risk of devaluation of a specific protected designation of origin (‘PDO’) or protected geographical indication (‘PGI’).

The risk of devaluation referred to in the first paragraph does not exist if:

(a) the specific area to be replanted is located in the same PDO or PGI area as the area grubbed up and the replanting of vines complies with the same PDO or PGI specification as the area grubbed up;

(b) the replanting is aimed at the production of wines without a geographical indication provided that the applicant undertakes the same commitments as those laid down in point (2) of Sections A and B of Annex I to this Regulation in relation to new plantings.

CHAPTER III

VINEYARD REGISTER

Article 7

Minimum information contained in the vineyard register

CHAPTER IV

ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS AND RULES FOR IMPORTS OF WINE PRODUCTS

SECTION I

ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS FOR MONITORING AND CERTIFICATION OF WINE PRODUCTS

Article 8

General rules

The operators referred to in the first subparagraph shall be able to present the accompanying document to the competent authorities throughout the transport operation.

Article 9

Exemptions

By way of derogation from Article 8, no accompanying document shall be required in the following cases:

(a) wine products transported from the vineyard to the winemaking premises, between two premises of the same undertaking or between the premises belonging to a group of producers, without change of the owner, provided that the transport is effected for the purpose of winemaking, processing, storage or bottling, the total road distance does not exceed 70 km and the transport takes place exclusively within the territory of a single Member State or has been approved by the competent authorities of the Member States concerned;

(b) grape marc and wine lees: (i) transported to a distillery or a vinegar production plant, where the product is accompanied by a delivery note of the producer under the conditions laid down by the competent authorities of the Member State where the transport begins, or (ii) where the transport is effected for the purpose of withdrawing the product from the winemaking process or from any other processing of grapes under supervision by the competent authorities, as provided for in Articles 14(1)(b)(vii) and 18(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/274;

(c) grape juice and must falling within CN codes 2009 61 and 2009 69 delivered to operators not involved in winemaking, where the product is accompanied by a commercial document;

(d) wine products produced and transported exclusively within the territory of Member States that are not subject to the obligation to maintain a vineyard register in accordance with Article 145(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013;

(e) the following cases of wine products transported exclusively within the territory of a Member State in containers of a nominal volume of not more than 60 litres: (i) wine products in labelled containers of a nominal volume of 10 litres or less fitted with a non-reusable closing device, where the total quantity does not exceed: — 5 litres or 5 kilograms in the case of concentrated grape must, whether or not rectified, — 100 litres for all other products; (ii) wine or grape juice intended for diplomatic representations, consulates and similar establishments, within the limits of the allowances granted them; (iii) wine or grape juice: — contained in private household removals, and not intended for sale, — on board ships, airplanes or trains to be consumed there; (iv) wine, partially fermented wine, partially fermented grape must and grape must transported by private individuals and intended for the personal consumption of the consignee or the consignee's family, where the quantity transported does not exceed 30 litres; (v) any product intended for scientific or technical experiments, where the total quantity transported does not exceed one hectolitre; (vi) commercial samples; (vii) samples for a competent authority or designated laboratory.

Article 10

Recognised accompanying documents

Competent authorities shall recognise the following documents as accompanying documents, provided that they comply with the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 5 and in Annex V:

(a) for the wine products dispatched within a Member State or among Member States, without prejudice to point (b) of this subparagraph: (i) one of the documents referred to in Article 21(6) or Article 26(1)(a) of Directive 2008/118/EC for products transported under duty suspension arrangements within the Union, provided that it states in a clearly identifiable manner the unique administrative reference code referred to in Article 21(3) of that Directive (‘ARC number’), it is drawn up in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 684/2009 (¹) and, where the document referred to in Article 26(1)(a) of Directive 2008/118/EC is used, the consignor complies with that paragraph 1; (ii) for excise goods transported within the Union, after release for consumption in the Member State where the transport operation began, the simplified accompanying document referred to in Article 34(1) of Directive 2008/118/EC, drawn up and used in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3649/92 (²); (iii) for wine products subject to excise duty dispatched by small producers pursuant to Article 40 of Directive 2008/118/EC and for wine products not subject to excise duty, one of the following documents, drawn up under the conditions laid down by the Member State of dispatch: — where the Member State uses an information system, a printed copy of the electronic administrative document thus established or any commercial document stating, in a clearly identifiable manner, the specific administrative code (‘MVV code’) assigned to the electronic administrative document by that system, provided that the document is established in compliance with the applicable national rules, — where the Member State does not use an information system, an administrative document or a commercial document bearing the MVV code assigned by the competent authority, provided that the document and a copy thereof are validated in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article;

(b) for wine products dispatched to a third country or to a territory referred to in Article 5(2) and (3) of Directive 2008/118/EC, one of the documents referred to in point (a)(i) or (iii).

The documents referred to in the second indent of point (a)(iii) of the first subparagraph may be used only until 31 December 2020.

Where those documents bear an ARC number assigned by the computerised system referred to in Article 21(2) of Directive 2008/118/EC or a MVV code assigned by the information system set up by the Member State of dispatch as referred to in the first indent of point (a)(iii) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, the information referred to in Section A of Annex V to this Regulation shall be held in the system used.

The documents referred to in the second indent of point (a)(iii) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 and a copy thereof shall be validated prior to dispatch:

(a) by the date, the signature of an official of the competent authority and the stamp affixed by that official; or

(b) by the date, the signature of the consignor and the affixing by the consignor, as appropriate: (i) of a special stamp in accordance with the model referred to in Section C of Annex V; (ii) of a stamp prescribed by the competent authorities, or (iii) of a mark of a stamping machine approved by the competent authorities.

The special stamp or the prescribed stamp referred to in point (b) may be pre-printed on the forms where printing is carried out by a printer approved for that purpose.

Article 11

Certification of the origin or provenance, characteristics, vintage or wine grape variety and PDO or PGI

Article 12

Certification of exported wine products

Whenever the competent authorities of the third country of destination require a certification as referred to in Article 11 for wine products dispatched to that third country, that certification shall take one of the following forms:

(a) the electronic administrative document or any other commercial document used in accordance with Article 21(6) of Directive 2008/118/EC or a document as referred to in Article 10(1)(a)(iii) of this Regulation, provided that the consignor or an authorised person acting on behalf of the consignor indicates the relevant information set out in Part I of Annex VI to this Regulation;

(b) a specific certificate for export drawn up on the basis of the template provided for and the requirements set out in Part II of Annex VI to this Regulation.

Article 13

Documents used as proof of export

That information shall be taken from the original of the accompanying document under cover of which the wine was transported to the customs office where the information sheet is issued. The type, date and number of the document which accompanied the consignment previously shall also be noted on the information sheet.