CHAPTER IIWINE

SECTION 1 Crisis support measures

Article 3Distillation of wine in case of crisis

1.

Support may be granted for the distillation of wine in accordance with the conditions laid down in this Article. Such support shall be proportionate.

2.

The alcohol resulting from the supported distillation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be used exclusively for industrial purposes, including disinfection or pharmaceutical, or for energy purposes so as to avoid distortion of competition.

3.

The beneficiaries of the support referred to in paragraph 1 shall be wine enterprises producing or marketing the products referred to in Part II of Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, wine producer organisations, associations of two or more producers, interbranch organisations or distillers of grapevine products.

4.

Only the costs of the supply of wine to distillers and of the distillation of this wine shall be eligible for support.

5.

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

6.

Member States shall lay down rules on the application procedure for the support referred to in paragraph 1, which shall include rules on:

(a)

the natural or legal persons that may submit applications;

(b)

the submission and selection of applications, which shall include at least the deadlines for the submission of applications, for the examination of the suitability of each proposed action and for the notification of the results of the selection procedure to the operators;

(c)

the verification of compliance with the provisions on eligible actions and the costs referred to in paragraph 4 and priority criteria where priority criteria are applied;

(d)

the selection of the applications, which shall at least include the weighting attributed to each priority criterion where priority criteria are applied;

(e)

arrangements for the payment of advances and the provision of securities.

7.

Member States shall fix the amount of support to beneficiaries on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria.

F17a.

Beneficiaries of support under this Article may request the payment of an advance from the competent paying agencies, if this option is included in the national support programme in accordance with Article 49 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1149 2 . The amount of advances shall be 100 % of the Union contribution. The advance shall be paid on condition that the beneficiary has lodged a bank guarantee or an equivalent security at least equal to 110 % of the amount of that advance in favour of the Member State concerned in accordance with Chapter IV of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 907/2014 3 . The security shall be released when the competent paying agency establishes that the amount of actual expenditure corresponding to the Union contribution related to the operations concerned equals the amount of the advance.

F28.

By way of derogation from Article 44(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Member States may grant additional national payments for the measure referred to in this Article.

9.

Articles 1 and 2, Article 43 and Articles 48 to 54 and Article 56 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1149 and Articles 1, 2 and 3, Articles 19 to 23, Article 25, Articles 27 to 31, the second subparagraph of Article 32(1) and Articles 33 to 40 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1150 4 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the support for distillation of wine in case of crisis.