Aromatised wines, aromatised wine-based drinks and aromatised wine-product cocktails: definition, description and presentation

The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the report by József SZAJER (EPP-ED, HU) amending, at first reading of the codecision procedure, the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the general rules on the definition, description and presentation of aromatised wines, aromatised wine-based drinks and aromatised wine-product cocktails (recast).

The Commission’s proposal was adapted in line with the recommendations of the Consultative Working Party of the Legal Services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. The main amendments are as follows:

- as Article 2 deals with definitions and labelling, and as all the measures that could be passed under Article 2(7) (particularly about labelling) concern changing general rules of the Regulation, it is proposed to apply the regulatory procedure with scrutiny;

- as far as the preparation of drinks and their contents are concerned, the regulatory procedure with scrutiny should be applied. Parliament should agree on the foreseen management procedure for analytical methods, provided that any new methods of analysis respect the scope of a Directive or Regulation;

- lastly, an amendment introduces the regulatory procedure with scrutiny for measures of general scope which are closely linked to the implementation of international agreements.