Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/273 of 11 December 2017 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the scheme of authorisations for vine plantings, the vineyard register, accompanying documents and certification, the inward and outward register, compulsory declarations, notifications and publication of notified information, and supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the relevant checks and penalties, amending Commission Regulations (EC) No 555/2008, (EC) No 606/2009 and (EC) No 607/2009 and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 436/2009 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/560

For the purposes of this Regulation and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/274, the following definitions shall apply:

1. ‘winegrower’ means a natural or legal person, or a group of natural or legal persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, whose holding is situated within the Union territory, as defined in Article 52 of the Treaty on European Union in conjunction with Article 355 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and who holds an area planted with vines where the produce of this area is used for the commercial production of wine products, or the area benefits from the exemptions for experimental purposes or for graft nurseries referred to in Article 3(2) of this Regulation;

2. ‘wine products’ means the products listed in Part XII of Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, except wine vinegar falling within CN codes 2209 00 11 and 2209 00 19;

3. ‘vineyard parcel’ means an agricultural parcel as defined in Article 67(4)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 planted with vines either aimed at the commercial production of wine products or benefitting from the exemptions for experimental purposes or for graft nurseries referred to in Article 3(2) of this Regulation;

4. ‘abandoned wine-growing area’ means an area planted with vines which is no longer subject to regular cultivation with a view to obtaining a marketable product since more than five wine years, without prejudice to specific cases defined by the Member States, the grubbing up of which no longer entitles the producer to be granted a replanting authorisation in accordance with Article 66 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013;

5. ‘harvester’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, who gathers the harvest of grapes from an area planted with vines in order to market those grapes for the production of wine products by third parties, or to process them into wine products in his holding, or have them processed on his behalf, with commercial purposes;

6. ‘processor’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, by whom or on whose behalf the processing of wines is carried out, the result of which being wines, liqueur wines, sparkling and semi-sparkling wines, aerated sparkling and semi-sparkling wines, quality sparkling wines or quality aromatic sparkling wines;

7. ‘retailer’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, whose business activity includes the sale directly to the consumer of wine and must in small quantities, to be defined by each Member State, having regard to the special features of trade and distribution, but excluding persons who use cellars equipped for storing or facilities for bottling wine in large quantities, and those who engage in itinerant trading in wine transported in bulk;

8. ‘bottling’ means putting up wine as a final product for commercial purposes in containers of a capacity not exceeding 60 litres;

9. ‘bottler’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, carrying out bottling of wine or having bottling carried out on his behalf;

10. ‘merchant’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, other than private consumers or retailers, who holds stocks of wine products with commercial purposes or is involved in their trade and possibly also bottles them, except distilleries;

11. ‘wine year’ means the marketing year for the wine sector as referred to in Article 6(d) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013.

For the purposes of Chapters IV to VIII of this Regulation, with the exception of Article 47, and Chapters IV to VII of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/274, ‘producer’ means a natural or legal person or a group of such persons, whatever legal status is granted to the group and its members by national law, who processes himself fresh grapes, musts or new wine still in fermentation into wine or must with commercial purposes, or has them processed on his behalf.

For the purposes of Article 10(1), ‘small producer’ means a producer who produces on average less than 1 000 hl of wine per wine year, based on the average annual production over at least three consecutive wine years.

Member States may decide that the definition of ‘small producer’ does not cover producers who buy fresh grapes, musts or new wine still in fermentation to process them into wine.

The scheme of authorisations for vine plantings laid down in Chapter III of Title I of Part II of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 shall not apply to the planting or replanting of areas referred to in Article 62(4) of that Regulation fulfilling the relevant conditions set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this Article.

The planting or replanting of areas intended for experimental purposes or for graft nurseries shall be subject to a prior notification to the competent authorities. The notification shall include all relevant information in respect of those areas and the period during which the experiment will take place or the period during which the graft nursery will be in production. Extensions of such periods shall also be notified to the competent authorities.

Where no risks of market disturbance are considered to exist, Member States may decide that during the periods referred to in the first subparagraph the grapes produced in those areas and the wine products obtained from those grapes may be marketed. At the end of such periods, the producer shall either:

1. obtain an authorisation in accordance with Article 64 or 68 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 for the area concerned, so that the grapes produced in that area and the wine products obtained from those grapes can be marketed; or

2. grub up such an area at his own cost in accordance with Article 71(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013.

Any areas intended for experiments or graft nurseries planted before 1 January 2016 following the granting of new planting rights shall continue to comply after that date with any conditions defined for the use of such rights until the end of the period of the experiment or the period of production of the graft nursery for which they were granted. After the expiry of such periods, the rules laid down in the first and second subparagraphs shall apply.

The planting or replanting of areas whose wine or vine products are intended solely for the consumption by the winegrower's household shall be subject to the following conditions:

1. such area does not exceed 0,1 ha;

2. the winegrower concerned is not involved in commercial wine production or in the commercial production of other wine products.

For the purposes of this paragraph, Member States may consider certain organisations without a commercial activity as equivalent to the winegrower's household.

Member States may decide that the plantings referred to in the first subparagraph are subject to a notification.

A producer having lost a certain area planted with vines due to compulsory purchases in the public interest under national law shall be entitled to plant a new area provided that such newly planted area does not exceed 105 % in terms of pure crop of the area lost. The newly planted area shall be registered in the vineyard register.

The grubbing up of areas benefiting from the exemption referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not give rise to an authorisation to replant under Article 66 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013. However, such authorisation shall be granted in the event of grubbing up of areas newly planted under the exemption referred to in paragraph 4.