Agricultural prices 1996/1997: common organisation of the market COM in wine (amend. regul. 822/87/EEC)

Agricultural prices and related measures 1996/1997 - Wine Pending the establishment of the new common market organization in wine, the Commission proposes to extend for the 1996/97 marketing year certain deadlines established by Community legislation concerning the submission of the reports on the sulphur dioxide (SO2) content of wines, sparkling wines and liqueur wines. * As regards other reports: - the report on measures enabling producer groups to be included with producers for compulsory distillation contracts. The postponement of this deadline, which concerns regulation EEC No 2046/89, will be studied in the context of a separate proposal dealing with amendments to this regulation; - the raison d'être for the link between structural measures and compulsory distillation will cease to exist. It is therefore proposed that the obligation to produce this report be deleted; - as to the reports on 'enrichment' and the delimitation of wine-growing areas, the presentation of the discussion paper and the reform proposal render them redundant since conclusions on these subjects have already been drawn by the Commission. * It is also proposed to extend certain deadlines for market management, in particular: - the rules for calculating the quantities to be distilled for each production region (uniform percentage and reference wine year) adopted following the Dublin compromise, which were deferred until 31 August 1996, as well as the derogation granted for a particular application of the compulsory distillation system in Greece; - the trial periods for certain de-acidification practices which are reaching their expiry date; - the period during which it is permitted to reserve for the promotion of grape juice part of the aid granted for the use of grape must to make grape juice, the deadline of which was already extended last year until 31 August 1996. * With regard to Spain's problems concerning the possibility of mixing white wine and red wine (Mezcla) and marketing wines with a degree of acidity lower than that fixed for the rest of the Community, it is proposed to extend for the next marketing year the measures already adopted under the last price package and similarly to provide for the same derogation on acidity in Portugal as has been granted in the past. * It is also proposed to provide for a specific derogation for certain special wines (obtained from botrytis grapes) in the United Kingdom as regards the maximum SO2 content. For this precise category of wine the maximum content should be raised to 300 mg per litre. �