Council Regulation (EEC) No 2333/92 of 13 July 1992 laying down general rules for the description and presentation of sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines

• Published date: 13 August 1992
• Subject Matter: Wine
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Communities, L 231, 13 August 1992

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Council Regulation (EEC) No 2333/92 of 13 July 1992 laying down general rules for the description and presentation of sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines

Official Journal L 231 , 13/08/1992 P. 0009 - 0021

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2333/92 of 13 July 1992 laying down general rules for the description and presentation of sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 of 16 March on the common organization of the market in wine(1) , and in particular Article 72 (1) and 79 (2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85 of 18 November 1985 laying down general rules for the description and presentation of sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines(2) , has been substantially amended: whereas, following a number of successive consolidations of the Community rules on wine, and in particular the consolidation of the general rules for the description and presentation of wines and grape musts covered by Regulation (EEC) No 2392/89(3) , it is appropriate, for reasons of logic and clarity, also to consolidate Regulation (EEC) No 3309/85;

Whereas the purposes of description and presentation should always be to provide potential final consumers and public bodies responsible for organizing and supervising the marketing of the products concerned with sufficiently clear and accurate information to enable them to form an opinion of the products; whereas rules should therefore be drawn up to ensure that this purpose is served;

Whereas, in the case of descriptive items, a distinction should be made between mandatory information needed to identify a sparkling or aerated sparkling wine and optional information designed mainly to indicate the intrinsic qualities of a product or to distinguish it sufficiently from other products in the same category which compete with it on the market;

Whereas it is important to draw up a full list of mandatory information and define the conditions under which this information may be used in the description of sparkling wines or aerated sparkling wines;

Whereas information on the alcoholic strength by volume of sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines appears necessary in order to describe on the labelling the nature of the product and thus to facilitate consumer choice; whereas provision shall therefore be made that a compulsory indication of the actual alcoholic strength by volume be given for the products in question;

Whereas various terms are traditionally used in the Community for the sales description of quality sparkling wines; whereas, in order to assist final consumers in their choice, it should be provided that the sales description of these products should consist of one of these terms, without the term Sekt being allowed to serve indirectly as a geographical description of a sparkling wine;

Whereas experience indicates the need to specify that for the purpose of informing the consumers of sparkling and aerated sparkling wines of the product type as determined by the residual sugar content only the information required under Community rules is permitted on the labelling;

Whereas, in order to facilitate the marketing of the said products, it should be left to the parties concerned to choose which optional information they wish to include, without provision of an exhaustive list; whereas the choice of optional information should nevertheless be restricted to details which are not inaccurate or liable to create confusion in the minds of final consumers or others for whom the information is intended;

Whereas it inspires a degree of confidence in the consumer if the various stages in the manufacture of a quality sparkling wine produced in a specified region, hereinafter called 'quality sparkling wine psr', i.e. cultivation of the grapes, the wine-making process, the growth of the wine and the process of secondary fermentation, have been monitored by the same natural of legal person; whereas it is necessary to ensure that the quality sparkling wines psr produced in this way can be distinguished by a specific term from other sparkling wines;

Whereas the special provisions relating to the quality wines produced in specified regions, hereinafter called 'quality wines psr', were laid down by Regulation (EEC) No 823/87(4) ; whereas those provisions have been amended so as to establish precise rules for the use of names of specified regions in the description of quality wines psr, including quality sparkling wines psr; whereas in accordance with those rules, only the geographical name of a wine-growing area which produces wine possessing special quality characteristics may be used to designate a quality sparkling wine psr; whereas those rules also provide that the name of a specified region may be combined with details concerning the method of manufacture or the type of product; whereas, in order to protect such traditional descriptions which are used for other types of products of specific origin, the term crémant should be reserved for certain quality sparkling wines psr manufactured in France and Luxembourg; whereas to enable manufacturers of sparkling wines who have traditionally used the term crémant to describe their sparkling wines to adjust gradually to the abovementioned rules there should be provision for a derogation from those rules during a transitional period;

Whereas, in order to establish conditions for fair competition on the market in sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines, special rules should be laid down for the use of certain optional items of information of a prestigious nature which may enhance the value of products so described; whereas provision should also be made for additional rules to be laid down at Community level by means of implementing provisions;

Whereas, on the one hand, a producer or vendor normally has no difficulty in demonstrating the accuracy of the information on the label to the competent authorities; whereas, on the other hand, those authorities do not always have direct access to the information sources of the producer or vendor; whereas, therefore, in order to increase the effectiveness of action by the authorities responsible for monitoring and controlling compliance with Community provisions in the sprakling wine sector, provision should be made to enable the said authorities, under the procedures applicable in the Member State in which they perform their duties, to require, where appropriate in cooperation with the competent authorities of the other Member States, the producer or vendor responsible for the information carried on the label to furnish proof of the accuracy of the terms used in the description; whereas provision should also be made that terms whose accuracy cannot be proved should be ragarded as not complying with Community provisions;

Whereas, bearing in mind the international obligations of the Community and the Member States regarding protection of registered designations of origin or geographical descriptions of wines, it should be laid down that the use of terms relating to a production method may not refer to the name of a geographical unit unless the product concerned may be designated by that name;

Whereas the characteristic features of sparkling and aerated sparkling wines are determined principally by natural and technical factors which are important from the start of cultivation of the vine and the wine-making process; whereas, therefore, in order to ensure uniform treatment of these products, conditions should be defined - as for wine - under which the name of the Member State or third country concerned or the adjective derived from that name may be used in combination with the name of the product;

Whereas it must be possible within the Community for sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines to be described in each of the official languages of the Communities in order to guarantee compliance with the principle of free movement of goods throughout the Community; whereas, however, it is necessary for mandatory information to be provided in such a way that final consumers can understand it, even when it appears on the label in a language which is not the official language of their country; whereas the names of geographical units should appear solely in the official language of the Member State in which the sparkling wine was produced, so that the sparkling wine thus designated circulates only under its traditional name; whereas, in view of the particular difficulties of understanding information given in Greek, since it is not written in the Roman alphabet, repetition of such information in one or more other official languages of the Communities should be authorized;

Whereas the presentation of sparkling and aerated sparkling wines traditionally includes special devices, such as methods of closure, which distinguish these products from other beverages; whereas rules should therefore be laid down regarding the appearance of these special devices;

Whereas for the purposes of consumer information it should be specified that packages containing bottles of sparkling or aerated sparkling wine put up for sale should have labelling meeting the requirements of the Community rules; whereas, however exceptions may be made in the case of specific packages containing small quantities of those wines;

Whereas, in order to establish conditions for fair competition between the various sparkling wines and aerated sparkling wines, anything in the description or presentation of such wines likely to confuse or mislead those for whom the information is intended should be prohibited; whereas similar prohibitions should be laid down for brand names used to describe...