Member States can currently be authorised to make national payments to wine producers for the voluntary or mandatory distillation of wine. Given the cost-effectiveness of removing surplus production from the market before wine is produced, it is appropriate, in justified cases of crisis, to allow Member States to be authorised to make national payments for voluntary green harvesting and voluntary grubbing up of productive vineyards, subject to certain conditions. In order to avoid distortion of competition, it is necessary to lay down the main criteria to be used for determining the maximum national payment per unit of product or per hectare. To that same end, this Regulation should also set limits for the overall amount of national payments authorised in a Member State in any given year for distillation and green harvesting. For grubbing up, given the structural nature of the measure and its higher costs, it is not appropriate to set an overall maximum amount of national payments. However, Member States should justify in their notification to the Commission the limit for national payments on a case-by-case basis based on their specific market circumstances and those of the wine regions in which the measure would be implemented.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
