Commission Regulation (EC) No 554/95 of 13 March 1995 laying down detailed rules for the description and presentation of sparkling and aerated sparkling wines

• Published date: 14 March 1995
• Subject Matter: Wine
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Communities, L 56, 14 March 1995

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Commission Regulation (EC) No 554/95 of 13 March 1995 laying down detailed rules for the description and presentation of sparkling and aerated sparkling wines

Official Journal L 056 , 14/03/1995 P. 0003 - 0008

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 554/95 of 13 March 1995 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 Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 of 16 March 1987 on the common organization of the market in wine (1), as amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 75 (5) thereof,

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2707/86 of 28 August 1986 laying down detailed rules for the description and presentation of sparkling and aerated sparking wines (2), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3826/90 (3) has frequently been amended; whereas, in the interests of clarity, and on the occasion of further amendments, the rules in question should be consolidated;

Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 2333/92 (4), as amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, 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 indent of the first subparagraph of Article 3 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2333/92 gives operators the option of showing either the name or business name of a producer established in the Community or that 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, in the light of experience, it should be made clear that the name of the vendor, where the latter is a person other than the producer, is required only if the sparkling or aerated sparkling wine is held in the name of the vendor with a view to its being placed on the market for the purposes of final consumption;

Whereas the term 'producer' and its translation in certain official Community languages are inappropriate for describing sparkling wines; whereas it should therefore be provided that the name or business name of the producer may be preceded not by the words 'producer' or 'produced by' but by an equivalent term;

Whereas it is compulsory to indicate the Member State concerned; whereas it should be made clear as a result how this is to be indicated on the labelling;

Whereas in conformity with the second indent of Article 5 (2) (c) of Regulation (EEC) No 2333/92 a list of the specific traditional terms that may be used as sales descriptions of quality sparkling wines psr should be drawn up;

Whereas in conformity with the third indent of Article 5 (2) (c) of Regulation (EEC) No 2333/92, a list of specified regions which may be used as sales descriptions for a quality sparkling wine psr should be drawn up;

Whereas under the third subparagraph of Article 5 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2333/92, 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, in conformity with Articles 5 (2) (f) and 14 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2333/92, 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 some other 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 2333/92 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 2333/92 are, and certain provisions of the present Regulation will be, applicable to sparkling wines originating in third countries the production rules of which have been...