FINAL MINUTES MEETING OF THE ADVISORY GROUP SPIRIT DRINKS

Transcription

1 FINAL MINUTES MEETING OF THE ADVISORY GROUP SPIRIT DRINKS 9 November 2011, 9:30-13:00 hrs European Commission Rue de la Loi 130, room L130B 1049 Brussels Chairman: Mr Bosco Torremocha GP.R /11/2011 Attendees: - DG AGRI: Mmes Buttini (K.3) and Moliterno (C.3) Mr Zorrilla (C.3) - Stakeholders: Mmes Bignami (COPA-COGECA), Breuer (CEPS), Galant (CEPS), Genevey (CEPS), and Kauer (CEPS), Messrs Bateman (CEPS), Cagiano (CEPS), Delhaye (CEPS), García-Rojals (CEPS), Lalagüe (CEPS), Luksep (CEPS), Torremocha (CEPS) and Sánchez Recarte (CEPS) 1. Adoption of the agenda and the report of the last meeting of the advisory group of 03/03/11 drafted by the Chairman The minutes of the last meeting were adopted. The chairman asked to add, under any other business, a new point concerning current trade issues in Croatia and other Balkans countries. Following this inclusion, the agenda was adopted. 2. Implementing rules on compound terms and GIs for spirit drinks: Timetable and procedure DG AGRI informed the group about the outcome of the Spirit Drinks Committee held on 8 November. He underlined that a majority of the Member States agreed, in general, with the draft rules for compound terms prepared by the Commission services. DG AGRI reported the last changes made in the implementing regulation draft text and outlined the content of the draft Regulation, mainly as regards the use of compound terms and allusions to spirit drink categories or GIs. Rue Belliard 12, bte 5 B-1040 Bruxelles T F info@europeanspirits.org

2 She also referred to the three possible types of compound terms: a. association of the name of a spirit drink category or GI with the term liqueur ; b. association of the name of a spirit drink category or GI with the name of a foodstuff, to describe a spirit drink; c. association of a spirit drink category or GI and a foodstuff to describe products other than spirit drinks; The chair thanked her for the update and reiterated the CEPS willingness to cooperate with the Commission in order to reacheredrrdesder the most satisfactory results for the future implementing Regulation. CEPS asked if liqueurs made from more than one spirit drink need to label only liqueur as sales denomination or if they also need to indicate mixed spirit drinks on the label. DG AGRI answered that, in line with article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 and article 3 of the proposed text, if a drink qualifies as a "liqueur" then it is enough to label it as liqueur. She also underlined that the indication of two or more spirit drink categories or GI for the description of a mixture referred to in article 11, shall be accompanied by a list of the alcoholic ingredients, the proportion of which shall be expressed as a percentage in descending order. CEPS asked for more clarifications on the labelling of a liqueur mixed with another spirit drink, where the final product does not comply with the definition of liqueur. DG AGRI confirmed that, it would also be considered as a mixture and, therefore, Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 would apply. CEPS asked for examples of each one of the possible compound terms referred to in article 3 of the draft implementing rules. DG AGRI gave the following examples: a. Whisky liqueur, Cognac liqueur b. Grappa with lemon c. Gin-tonic, whisky cola, whisky ice cream The Chair thanked the European Commission representatives for these useful examples. DG AGRI outlined the content of the draft Regulation concerning the procedure for the registration of spirit drink GIs, pointing out that it includes rules for the transmission of an application, the launching of the objection procedure, the registration, cancellation or modification of geographical indications as well as the use of a Union symbol for registered GIs. She informed the group that some Member States were opposed to the procedure of examination by the EC of the technical file of existing GIs. DG AGRI underlined the importance to verify the consistency of technical files. She also stressed the need of strong justification for some restrictive specifications of the technical file, like the compulsory bottling in the area of production of the geographical indication. The chair stressed the shared responsibility of producers, Member States and the EC in relation to GIs. He supported the position of Member States against the EC verification of technical files related to established GIs. 2

3 CEPS asked if, in case of modification of the technical file of an established GI, the opposition procedure would concern only the modifications or all the technical file. DG AGRI clarified that, in principle, only the modified elements would be submitted to the objection procedure but that this had to be seen on a case by case basis. To the chair question about the possible opposition to an already established GI, DG AGRI replied that no opposition procedure exists for established GIs. 3. Modifications of Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) Nº 110/2008 DG AGRI reported 5 modifications: 1. Introduction of the possibility to use of the term dry for gin and distilled gin. 2. Inclusion of the category absinth. No consensus was reach between Member States for the definition of this new category (discordance on minimum alcohol strength by vol., content of thuyone, anethol and sugar) 3. Modification of Annex III. Inclusion of the new GI "Újfehértói Meggypálinka" (Hungary). 4. Modification of Annex III. Inclusion of the GI Polish Vodka also in category 31 (flavoured vodka) 5. Modification of Annex III. Inclusion of the GI Blutwurz also among other spirit drinks DG AGRI asked stakeholders to give support to the authorities of the main absinth producing countries (France, Spain, German and Belgium), for the establishment of a satisfactory definition, before next Spirit Drinks Committee. To CEPS question concerning the inclusion of national rules for vodka in the regulation, DG AGRI recommended that a specific demand should be done. (??) CEPS suggested that considering the large number of spirit drinks categories, a mirror system (numbering for example) should be established between Annexes II and III in order to facilitate the reference between them. DG AGRI noted the suggestion. (I'm sorry, I don't remember and I don't understand this point. A reference number already exists for all categories, in Annexes II and III) DG AGRI informed the group that the next Spirit Drinks Committee will be held at the beginning of February and that, if a consensus is reached, the Regulation on implementing rules could be voted in June GIs database on Commission website This point was brought forward in the agenda due to the presence in the meeting of the EC agent responsible of the database system. The EC representative presented the ECAUDALIE system, which is the information system used to receive and examine protection, modification and cancellation applications related to wine PGI and PDO. 3

4 The Commission services has not ye defined the date on which the system will be adapted to host the spirit drinks GI database. In the future, the database should be made publicly available. To CEPS questions concerning the acknowledgment when a new GI is submitted, it was explained that the submission doesn t imply a modification of the database. The modification should be effective only when the submission has been examined and accepted by the EC. The period of opposition is related to the publication of the announcement in the Official Journal of the European Union. 4. State of play of Russian vodka GI 5. GI s: Update on registration of new geographical indications The 2 points were treated together. DG AGRI informed the group that DG AGRI services had received, some months ago, the technical file the GI for "Russian vodka" but further clarifications were asked. The final version should be received from the Russian authorities by the end of November. She also informed that the GI "Újfehértói Meggypálinka" (Hungary) was going to be included in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 as a new GI and that, concerning the GI "Pisco" (Peru), the objection procedure was almost finished. To CEPS question about a transitional period for the hypothetical adaptation of some EU vodka labels to the requirements of the GI "Russian vodka", DG AGRI could not ensure that a transitional period would be granted. However, she underlined that, as the text should be translated and submitted to the European Parliament for scrutiny before its publication in the EU Official Journal, companies will have de facto an extra time for adapting the labels. To the chair question concerning the relation between the GIs "Pisco" for Peru and "Pisco" for Chile, DG AGRI explained that, while the first one will be registered through the procedure foreseen by Regulation (EC) No 110/2008, the second one is protected under the bilateral agreement signed by the EU and Chile. 7. AOB DG AGRI reported that the Croatian accession to the European Union is foreseen for July 2013 and that the bilateral negotiations are already closed. DG AGRI informed the group that the EC has proposed to the Croatian authorities 2 options to solve the problem of Domaci rum and Domaci brandy : to change technologies and recipes for their products to legally use the rum and brandy names or to keep their existing production methods but change the names of the products. She informed also that of the 6 Croatian spirit drinks GIs submitted to the objection procedure, only the "Pelinkovac" raised problem. The objection came from Serbia, which considered "Pelikovac" as a generic term. DG AGRI considered, as a possible solution, the use of that term in combination with a geographical name. CEPS reported that one of the Croatian GIs includes the term Maraschino, in Italian, and asked if in the technical file that term was also indicated in Italian. 4

5 DG AGRI informed that for the moment the complete technical files had not been requested to the Croatian authorities. Finally, CEPS requested information concerning the Russian draft technical regulation on alcoholic beverages which includes among others, a system of certification. DG AGRI informed the group that Russia had published, for comments, a new draft text which had been already translated and was being examined by the Commission services. DG AGRI added that a meeting with the Russian authorities was going to be held in December. Disclaimer "The opinions expressed in this report represent the point of view of the meeting participants from agriculturally related NGOs at community level. These opinions cannot, under any circumstances, be attributed to the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of the here above information." 5