Commission Regulation (EC) No 555/2008Show full title

CHAPTER II Transitional planting right regime

Article 60 New planting rights

1. Where Member States grant new planting rights in respect of areas intended for new planting carried out under measures for land consolidation or measures concerning compulsory purchases in the public interest adopted under national legislation, they shall ensure that these rights are not granted for an area greater in terms of pure crop than 105 % of the area under vines which was the subject of the measures for land consolidation or measures concerning compulsory purchases in the public interest.

2. Where Member States grant new planting rights in respect of areas intended for experiments, products made from grapes coming from such areas may not be marketed throughout the experimental period.

3. Where Member States grant new planting rights in respect of areas intended for graft nurseries, grapes of such vines shall either not be harvested or, if harvested, shall be destroyed throughout the period of production of the graft nurseries.

4. New planting rights granted under paragraphs 2 and 3 shall only apply during the experimental period or the period of production of the graft nurseries, respectively.

After the period referred to in the first subparagraph, either:

(a) the producer shall use replanting rights or planting rights granted from a reserve in order to permit the area concerned to produce wine which is to be marketed; or

(b) the vines planted on such areas shall be grubbed up; the expenses of such grubbing-up shall be borne by the producer concerned; until the area concerned is grubbed up, products made from grapes coming from such areas may be put into circulation only for the purposes of distillation, at the expense of the producer; these products may not be used in the preparation of alcohol having an actual alcoholic strength of 80 % vol. or less.

5. New planting rights, and any conditions on the use of such rights or areas planted pursuant to them granted prior to 1 August 2000 in respect of areas intended for experiments or graft nurseries shall continue to apply during the experimental period or the period of production of the graft nurseries, respectively. The rules in the second subparagraph of paragraph 4 shall apply to such areas after the end of the experimental period or the period of the production of the graft nurseries, respectively.

6. In the case of Article 91(1)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008, in order to avoid an excessive administrative burden being imposed, a Member State may, instead of granting new planting rights, provide that areas whose wine or vine products are intended solely for consumption by the vine grower’s family shall not be subject to the grubbing-up requirement in Article 85(1) of that Regulation. Member States may do so only on condition that:

(a) the area in respect of any given grower does not exceed a maximum area to be laid down by that Member State, which may, in any case, not be larger than 0,1 hectare; and

(b) the vine grower concerned is not involved in commercial wine production.

7. The marketing of the wine or vine products coming from the areas referred to in paragraph 6 shall be prohibited. Member States shall apply an appropriate system to monitor this prohibition. Should a breach of this prohibition be discovered, then in addition to any penalties imposed by the Member State, point (b) of the second subparagraph of paragraph 4 shall apply. Member States shall record all cases dealt with under this paragraph.

Article 61 Member States’ recording and communication obligations related to new planting rights

Member States shall record each case where new planting rights are granted according to Article 60.

Member States shall communicate the following information to the Commission in respect of each wine year:

(a)

the total areas for which new planting rights have been granted under each of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 60; and

(b)

the total area for which new planting rights have been granted under Article 91(1) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008; however, where a Member State makes use of the derogation in paragraph 6 of Article 60 of this Regulation, it shall instead communicate an estimate of the total area concerned, which shall be based on the results of the monitoring carried out.

This communication shall be made in the form set out in Table 8 of Annex XIII. Member States may decide whether or not to include details related to regions in it. It shall be transmitted to the Commission at the latest by 1 March each year in respect of the previous wine year.

Article 62 Grubbing up without generation of replanting right

Where an area is grubbed up pursuant to Article 24(4), Article 85(1) or Article 86(4) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 or point (b) of the second subparagraph of Article 60(4) of this Regulation, no replanting rights shall be granted. Furthermore, no replanting rights shall be granted in the event of grubbing up of:

(a)

any area of vines in the implementation of measures for land consolidation or measures concerning compulsory purchases in the public interest, where new planting rights have been granted in relation to such areas under Article 60(1) of this Regulation;

(b)

areas intended for wine-growing experiments during the experimental period;

(c)

areas intended for graft nurseries during the period of production of the graft nurseries;

(d)

areas intended solely for the consumption of the vine grower’s family; or

(e)

areas for which a grubbing-up premium is granted, in accordance with Article 92(1) second subparagraph of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008

Article 63 Anticipated replanting rights

1. According to Article 92(2) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008, Member States may grant replanting rights to producers who undertake to grub up an area of vines before the end of the third wine year after the area was planted. This can be done only where that producer can show that he has no, or insufficient, planting rights in his possession which could be used to permit the entire area concerned to be planted with vines. A Member State shall grant no more rights to a producer than are necessary to permit the entire area concerned to be planted with vines, taking into account any rights already in his possession. The producer shall specify the particular area to be grubbed up.

2. When giving the undertaking referred to in paragraph 1, a producer shall lodge a security. The obligation to grub up the area concerned shall constitute the ‘primary requirements’ within the meaning of Article 20(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85. The amount of the security shall be set by the Member State concerned on the basis of objective criteria. The security shall be set at a level which is proportionate and sufficient to dissuade producers from failing to carry out their undertaking.

3. Until the undertaking to grub up has been carried out, Member States shall ensure that, in any given wine year, there is not simultaneously a commercial production of wine from both the area to be grubbed up and the newly planted area, by ensuring that, the products made from grapes coming from either of the areas may be put into circulation only for the purposes of distillation, at the expense of the producer. These products may not be used in the preparation of alcohol having an actual alcoholic strength of 80 % vol. or less.

4. If the undertaking to grub up is not carried out by the deadline set, then the particular area which has not been grubbed up shall be treated as having been planted in breach of the restriction on planting in Article 90(1) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008.

5. Member States shall monitor the planting and grubbing-up of the areas concerned.

6. Member States shall keep a record of all case dealt with under paragraphs 1 to 5.

Article 64 Transfers of replanting rights

1. In applying the second subparagraph of Article 92(5) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008, Member States may apply an equivalent reduction coefficient to transfers of replanting rights between holdings.

2. Member States shall keep a record of all transfers of replanting rights between holdings.

Article 65 Reserves of planting rights

1. Member States shall ensure that the transfer of rights via a national reserve and/or regional reserves does not lead to an overall increase in production potential on their territory. If needed, Member States may apply a reduction coefficient.

2. A Member State shall notify the Commission of the creation of national and/or regional reserves of planting rights or, as the case may be, of its choice not to implement any longer the reserve system.

3. Where a Member State chooses not to implement the reserve system, it shall communicate to the Commission proof that an effective system for managing planting rights exists throughout its territory.

4. Member States shall keep a record of all cases where planting rights are granted from reserves, of all cases where planting rights are transferred between reserves and all cases where planting rights are allocated to reserves. Any payments made in return for allocating rights to a reserve or for granting rights from a reserve shall also be recorded.

5. Member States shall, in the form laid down in Table 9 of Annex XIII, communicate to the Commission in respect of each wine year:

(a) the planting rights allocated to the reserves;

(b) the planting rights granted from the reserve against or without payment.

Article 66 Maintenance of the planting rights system

Member States that want to maintain the prohibition of plantings in their territory or parts of their territory as referred to in Article 90(1) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 beyond 31 December 2015 according to the possibility provided for in Article 90(6) of that Regulation, shall communicate their appropriate intention to the Commission by 1 March 2015.