Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1149Show full title

SECTION 7 Innovation in the wine sector

Article 37 Beneficiaries

1. The beneficiaries of the support referred to in Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 shall be wine enterprises producing or marketing the products referred to in Part II of Annex VII to that Regulation, wine producer organisations and temporary or permanent associations of two or more producers.

2. Research and development centres may participate in the operation pursued by the beneficiaries. Interbranch organisations may be associated to the operation.

Article 38 Eligible actions and eligible costs

1. The operations and their underlying actions for which the support referred to in Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 is applied shall consist of tangible and intangible investments including for knowledge-transfer for the development of the following:

(a) new products related to the wine sector or by-products of wine;

(b) new processes and technologies necessary for the development of grapevine products;

(c) other investments adding value at any stage of the supply chain.

2. The eligible costs shall include pilot projects, preparatory actions in the form of design, product, process or technology development and tests and any tangible and/or intangible investments related to them, before the use of the newly developed products, processes and technologies for commercial purposes.

3. Simple replacement investments shall not constitute eligible costs.

Article 39 Eligibility criteria

Member States shall examine an application against the following criteria:

(a)

the operations and their underlying actions are clearly defined, describing the investment actions and including the estimated cost;

(b)

assurances that the costs of the proposed operation are not in excess of the normal market rates;

(c)

assurances that beneficiaries have access to sufficient technical and financial resources to ensure that the operation is implemented effectively;

(d)

the consistency between the strategies proposed and the objectives set and the likely impact and success in improving the overall performance of the processing or marketing facilities and their adaptation to market demands, as well as increasing their competitiveness.

Article 40 Priority criteria

1. Having examined the applications, Member States shall give preference to operations which:

(a) are likely to have positive effects in terms of energy savings, global energy efficiency and environmentally sustainable processes;

(b) include an element of knowledge transfer;

(c) ensure the participation of research and development centres.

2. Member States may establish other priority criteria by indicating them in the support programme. Such other priority criteria shall be based on the specific strategy and objectives set out in the support programme and shall be objective and not discriminatory.