Aromatised wine products: definition, description, presentation, labelling, and protection of geographical indications

The Commission presented a report on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of aromatised wine products.

Under Regulation (EU) No 251/2014, the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts concerning:

- the establishment of authorised production processes for obtaining aromatised wine products;

- criteria for the demarcation of the geographical area, rules, restrictions and derogations related to the production in the demarcated geographical area;

- determine the cases in which a single producer may apply for the protection of a geographical indication; ,

- determine the restrictions governing the type of applicant that may apply for the protection of a geographical indication and establish the conditions to be followed in respect of an application for the protection of a geographical indication, scrutiny by the Commission;

- restrictions on the protected name;

- the nature and type of the information to be notified, the methods of notification and the conditions and means of publication of the information.

The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 27 March 2014. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power is tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.

Exercise of Delegation

The Commission has adopted one delegated act: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/670 which establishes the authorised production processes for obtaining aromatised wine products, taking into account consumers’ expectations and the production processes recommended and published by the OIV. Neither the European Parliament nor the Council issued any objection to the Delegated Regulation. After the expiry of the two-month period, the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/670 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force on 28 April 2017.

The Commission did not use the other empowerments provided for in the Regulation.

With regard to the authorisations provided for in Article 28 of the Regulation, the Commission considered that the priority was to conclude the procedures for the validation of the existing geographical indications first. Then, in view of the limited number of registrations of geographical indications for aromatised wines under Regulation (EU) No 251/2014, the Commission proposed that geographical indications for aromatised wines should be subject to the same legal framework as other agricultural products and foodstuffs.

In conclusion, the Commission has exercised its delegated powers correctly. It cannot be excluded that the empowerments will be needed in future.