Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

CHAPTER III U.K. Scheme of authorisations for vine plantings

Article 61 U.K. Duration

The scheme of authorisations for vine plantings established in this Chapter shall apply from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2030, with a mid-term review to be undertaken by the Commission to evaluate the operation of the scheme and, if appropriate, make proposals.

Section 1 U.K. Management of the scheme of authorisations for vine plantings

Article 62 U.K. Authorisations

1. Vines of wine grape varieties classified in accordance with Article 81(2) may only be planted or replanted if an authorisation is granted in accordance with Articles 64, 66 and 68 under the conditions laid down in this Chapter.

2. Member States shall grant the authorisation referred to in paragraph 1, corresponding to a specific area expressed in hectares, upon submission of an application by producers which complies with objective and non-discriminatory eligibility criteria. Such authorisation shall be granted without a fee being charged to the producers.

3. The authorisations referred to in paragraph 1 shall be valid for three years from the date on which they were granted. A producer who has not used an authorisation granted during its period of validity shall be subject to administrative penalties as provided for in Article 89(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.

4. This Chapter shall not apply to the planting or replanting of areas intended for experimental purposes or for graft nurseries, to areas whose wine or vine products are intended solely for the consumption by the wine-grower's household or to areas to be newly planted as a result of compulsory purchases in the public interest under national law.

[F1 5. Member States may apply this Chapter to areas producing wine suitable for producing wine spirits with a geographical indication as registered in accordance with Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) . For the purposes of this Chapter, those areas may be treated as areas where wines with a protected designation of origin or protected geographical indication may be produced.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Inserted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2393 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2017 amending Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), (EU) No 1306/2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy, (EU) No 1307/2013 establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy, (EU) No 1308/2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and (EU) No 652/2014 laying down provisions for the management of expenditure relating to the food chain, animal health and animal welfare, and relating to plant health and plant reproductive material.

Article 63 U.K. Safeguard mechanism for new plantings

1. Member States shall make available each year authorisations for new plantings corresponding to 1 % of the total area actually planted with vines in their territory, as measured on 31 July of the previous year.

2. Member States may:

(a) apply at national level a lower percentage than the percentage set out in paragraph 1;

(b) limit the issuing of authorisations at regional level, for specific areas eligible for the production of wines with a protected designation of origin, for areas eligible for the production of wines with a protected geographical indication, or for areas without a geographical indication.

3. Any of the limitations referred to in paragraph 2 shall contribute to an orderly growth of vine plantings, shall be set above 0 %, and shall be justified on one or more of the following specific grounds:

(a) the need to avoid a well-demonstrated risk of oversupply of wine products in relation to market prospects for those products, not exceeding what is necessary to satisfy this need;

(b) the need to avoid a well-demonstrated risk of significant devaluation of a particular protected designation of origin or a protected geographical indication.

4. Member States shall make public any decisions adopted pursuant to paragraph 2, which shall be duly justified. Member States shall notify the Commission forthwith of those decisions and justifications.

Article 64 U.K. Granting of authorisations for new plantings

1. If the total area covered by the eligible applications in a given year does not exceed the area made available by the Member State, all such applications shall be accepted.

Member States may, for the purpose of this Article, apply one or more of the following objective and non-discriminatory eligibility criteria:

(a) the applicant shall have an agricultural area which is not smaller than the area for which he requests the authorisation;

(b) the applicant shall possess adequate occupational skills and competence;

(c) the application shall not pose a significant risk of misappropriation of the reputation of specific protected designations of origin, which shall be presumed unless the existence of such risk is demonstrated by the public authorities;

[F1 (ca) the applicant does not have vines planted without authorisation as referred to in Article 71 of this Regulation or without a planting right as referred to in Articles 85a and 85b of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007;]

(d) where duly justified, one or more of the criteria referred to in paragraph 2, provided that they are applied in an objective and non-discriminatory manner.

[F2 2. If the total area covered by the eligible applications referred to in paragraph 1 in a given year exceeds the area made available by the Member State, authorisations shall be granted according to a pro-rata distribution of hectares to all applicants on the basis of the area for which they have requested the authorisation. Such granting may establish a minimum and/or a maximum area by applicant and also be partially or completely made in accordance with one or more of the following objective and non-discriminatory priority criteria:]

(a) producers who are setting up vine plantings for the first time, and who are established as the head of the holding (new entrants);

(b) areas where vineyards contribute to the preservation of the environment;

(c) areas to be newly planted in the framework of land consolidation projects;

(d) areas facing natural or other specific constraints;

(e) the sustainability of projects of development or replantations on the basis of an economic evaluation;

(f) areas to be newly planted which contribute to increasing the competitiveness at farm holding and regional level;

(g) projects with the potential to improve the quality of products with geographical indications;

(h) areas to be newly planted in the framework of increasing the size of small and medium-sized holdings.

[F1 2a. If the Member State decides to apply one or more of the criteria referred to in paragraph 2, the Member State may add the additional condition that the applicant shall be a natural person who is no more than 40 years of age in the year of submission of the application.]

[F2 3. Member States shall make public the criteria referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 2a that they apply and shall notify them forthwith to the Commission.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Inserted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2393 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2017 amending Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), (EU) No 1306/2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy, (EU) No 1307/2013 establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy, (EU) No 1308/2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and (EU) No 652/2014 laying down provisions for the management of expenditure relating to the food chain, animal health and animal welfare, and relating to plant health and plant reproductive material.

F2 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2393 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2017 amending Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), (EU) No 1306/2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy, (EU) No 1307/2013 establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy, (EU) No 1308/2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and (EU) No 652/2014 laying down provisions for the management of expenditure relating to the food chain, animal health and animal welfare, and relating to plant health and plant reproductive material.

Article 65 U.K. Role of professional organisations

When applying Article 63(2), a Member State may take into account recommendations presented by recognised professional organisations operating in the wine sector referred to in Articles 152, 156 and 157, of interested groups of producers referred to in Article 95, or of other types of professional organisation recognised on the basis of that Member State's legislation, provided that those recommendations are preceded by an agreement entered into by the relevant representative parties in the reference geographical area.

The recommendations shall be made for no more than three years.

Article 66 U.K. Replantings

1. Member States shall automatically grant an authorisation to producers who have grubbed up an area planted with vines as from 1 January 2016 and submitted an application. Such authorisation shall correspond to the equivalent of that area in terms of pure crop. The areas covered by such authorisations shall not be counted for the purposes of Article 63.

2. Member States may grant the authorisation referred to in paragraph 1 to producers undertaking to grub up an area planted with vines if the grubbing up of the pledged area is carried out at the latest by the end of the fourth year from the date on which new vines have been planted.

3. The authorisation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be used on the same holding on which the grubbing up was undertaken. Member States may, in areas eligible for the production of wines with protected designations of origin or protected geographical indications, restrict the replanting, on the basis of a recommendation from a professional organisation in accordance with Article 65, to vines complying with the same protected designation of origin or geographical indication specification as the area grubbed up.

4. This Article shall not apply in the case of grubbing up of non-authorised plantings.

Article 67 U.K. De minimis

1. The scheme of authorisations for vine plantings established in this Chapter shall not apply in Member States where the transitional planting right regime established in Subsection II of Section IVa of Chapter III of Title I of Part II of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 did not apply on 31 December 2007.

2. Member States to which the regime referred to in paragraph 1 applied on 31 December 2007, and in respect of which the areas currently planted with vines do not exceed 10 000 hectares, may decide not to implement the scheme of authorisations for vine plantings established in this Chapter.

Article 68 U.K. Transitional provisions

1. Planting rights granted to producers in accordance with Article 85h, Article 85i or Article 85k of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 before 31 December 2015 which have not been used by those producers and are still valid by that date may be converted into authorisations under this Chapter as from 1 January 2016.

Such conversion shall take place upon a request to be submitted by those producers before 31 December 2015. Member States may decide to allow producers to submit such a request to convert rights into authorisations until 31 December 2020.

2. Authorisations granted pursuant to paragraph 1 shall have the same period of validity as the planting rights referred to in paragraph 1. If these authorisations are not used, they shall expire at the latest by 31 December 2018, or, where a Member State has taken the decision referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, at the latest by 31 December 2023.

3. The areas covered by the authorisations granted pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be not be counted for the purposes of Article 63.

Article 69 U.K. Delegated powers

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 227 concerning:

(a)

the conditions for the application of the exemption referred to in Article 62(4);

(b)

the rules relating to the criteria referred to in Article 64(1) and (2);

(c)

the addition of criteria to those listed in Article 64(1) and (2);

(d)

the co-existence of vines that the producer has undertaken to grub up with newly planted vines pursuant to Article 66(2);

(e)

the grounds for Member State decisions under Article 66(3).

Article 70 U.K. Implementing powers in accordance with the examination procedure

The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down the necessary measures in relation to:

(a)

the procedures for granting the authorisations;

(b)

the records to be kept by the Member States and notifications to be sent to the Commission.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 229(2).

Section 2 U.K. Control of the scheme of authorisations for vine plantings

Article 71 U.K. Non-authorised plantings

1. Producers shall grub up at their own cost areas planted with vines without an authorisation.

2. If producers do not grub up within four months from the date on which they are notified of the irregularity, Member States shall ensure the grubbing up of such non-authorised plantings within two years following the expiry of the four-month period. The relevant cost shall be charged to the producers concerned.

3. Member States shall communicate to the Commission by 1 March each year the total size of the areas ascertained as planted with vines without an authorisation after 1 January 2016, as well as the areas grubbed up in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2.

4. A producer who has not complied with the obligation laid down in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be subject to penalties to be laid down in accordance with Article 64 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.

5. Areas planted with vines without an authorisation shall not benefit from any national or Union support measures.

Article 72 U.K. Implementing powers in accordance with the examination procedure

The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down necessary measures setting out the details of the communication requirements that Member States are to comply with, including possible reductions of the budgetary limits provided for in Annex VI in the case of non-compliance.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 229(2).

(1)

[F1 Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1576/89 ( OJ L 39, 13.2.2008, p. 16 ).]

Textual Amendments

F1 Inserted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2393 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2017 amending Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), (EU) No 1306/2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy, (EU) No 1307/2013 establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy, (EU) No 1308/2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and (EU) No 652/2014 laying down provisions for the management of expenditure relating to the food chain, animal health and animal welfare, and relating to plant health and plant reproductive material.