http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/eur/2011/538

Commission Regulation (EU) No 538/2011

of 1 June 2011

amending Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 laying down certain detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 as regards protected designations of origin and geographical indications, traditional terms, labelling and presentation of certain wine sector products

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 on the common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation)1, and in particular points (k), (l) and (m) of the first paragraph of Article 121 and Article 203b, in conjunction with Article 4 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

Article 18 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 607/20092 lays down that the ‘Register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications’ (hereinafter ‘the Register’) maintained by the Commission as provided for in Article 118n of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 is included in the electronic database ‘E-Bacchus’.

(2)

For the sake of simplification, the list of representative trade organisations and their members provided in Annex XI to Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 should be published on the Internet. Therefore, Article 30(2) should be amended accordingly.

(3)

In order to avoid any discrimination between wines originating in the Union and those imported from third countries, it should be clarified that terms traditionally used in third countries may obtain recognition and protection as traditional terms in the Union also where they are used in conjunction with geographical indications or names of origin regulated by those third countries.

(4)

For the sake of clarity, protected traditional terms listed in Annex XII should be transferred to the electronic database ‘E-Bacchus’ thus gathering protected designations of origin, protected geographical indications and protected traditional terms in a single IT tool, easily available for consultation purposes.

(5)

In order to provide up-to-date information relating to traditional terms, the information indicated in Annex XII to Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 should be transferred to the electronic database ‘E-Bacchus’ and new information related to the protection of traditional terms should exclusively be included in that database.

(6)

In order to clarify the relationship between protected traditional terms and trademarks, it is necessary to specify on what legal basis an application for a trademark containing or consisting of a protected traditional term should be assessed in accordance with Directive 2008/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks3 or Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark4.

(7)

In order to improve the transparency of the rules concerning traditional terms, in particular due to the fact that they are moved to the electronic database ‘E-Bacchus’, any modification relating to traditional terms shall follow a formally defined procedure.

(8)

Rules should be provided for the indication of the alcoholic strength by volume of certain specific grapevine products in order to provide the public with accurate information.

(9)

In order to facilitate less burdensome labelling, certain information related to the name and the address of the bottler may in some circumstances not be required.

(10)

In order to improve controls of certain grapevine products, Member States should be allowed to regulate the use of particulars referring to producer and processor.

(11)

For the sake of clarity, Articles 42(1) and 56(3) should be amended.

(12)

The use of a specific type of bottle and closure for sparkling wines, quality sparkling wines and quality aromatic sparkling wines as provided for in Article 69 of Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 should be obligatory exclusively for the marketing and the export of such wines produced in the European Union.

(13)

As regards the transmission of technical files of existing protected wine names referred to in Article 118s of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 the requirement to identify the applicant of an existing wine name as referred to in point (b) of Article 118c(1) of that Regulation may raise difficulty for some Member States since these existing protected wine names are regulated at a national level without any reference to a particular applicant. In order to facilitate the transition from the arrangements provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/19995 to those established by Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, transitional measures should be provided to comply with national legislations of those Member States.

(14)

It is necessary to amend Annex VIII to Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 as regards the prior rights which may be claimed in case of an opposition against an application for protection of a traditional term.

(15)

Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(16)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,

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