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Accompanying documents required for putting wine products into circulation

09/13/2017
 

The obligation to ensure product identification and traceability is generally laid down in Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002.

Specific legal regulation for wine products laying down the obligation to put wine products into circulation in the Union provided with an officially approved accompanying documents (i.e. the accompanying document must accompany the product and it cannot be delivered subsequently, as is the frequent practice with other foods) is Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013 (Article 147). Requirements for documentation which must accompany those products and according to which the products must be labelled are laid down by Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009 (wine products of EC origin) and Regulation (EC) No. 555/2008, Decree No. 88/2017 Coll. (wine products of third-country origin).

Pursuant to Section 27(8) of Act No. 321/2004 Coll., on Viniculture and Viticulture, wine products must be stored in duly labelled containers so that confusion is prevented and their origin can be proven any time.

Requirements for accompanying documents

Pursuant to Article 24(3) of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009, an accompanying document must contain information specified in Point C of Annex VI to this Regulation or allow relevant authorities to obtain this information.

For specimen go to E-Bacchus: https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/wine/model-forms_cs   very last bottom, Section 2 Czech version.

Check of accompanying documents for wine products of EU and CR origin

Required accompanying documents

I. By the type of wine product (in connection with the excise duty):

Wine products can be generally divided into:

  • products subject to the excise duty (i.e. wines and semi-products specified under nomenclature codes (CN) 2204, 2205, 2206, containing more than 1.2% alcohol by volume but no more than 22% alcohol by volume) – still wines, sparkling wines and semi-products
  • products not subject to the excise duty – grapes, juice and pomaces

When wines are marked with CN (according to the valid customs tariff), the basic version of the code (see below) will satisfy the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) provided that the product is sufficiently identified by verbal description. There must be no conflict between CN and verbal description of the product.

  • grapes CN 0806 10 90
  • grape juice CN 2009 61 and 2009 69
  • semi-products CN 2204 30
  • still wines CN 2204 21 and 2204 29
  • sparkling wines CN 2204 10

1. Excise products transported with the suspension of excise duty [Article 24(1)(a)(i) of Regulation (ES) No. 436/2009]

= tax regime under which the goods are temporarily exempt from the excise duty, e.g. goods transported from one tax warehouse to another.

(Standard) accompanying document is required, i.e.:

  • 1) a printed version of the electronic administrative document or 2) any other commercial document mentioning, in a clearly identifiable manner, the unique administrative reference code (Article 21(6) of Directive 2008/118/EC);
  • where the computerised system is temporarily unavailable in the Member State, a paper document containing the same data as the draft electronic administrative document referred to in Article 21(2) of Directive 2008/118/EC and at the same time, it is necessary to inform the competent authorities of the Member State of dispatch before the beginning of the movement and to submit a draft electronic administrative document when the availability of the computerised system is restored (Article 26(1) of the Directive).

Draft electronic administrative documents are contained in Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 684/2009.

This document must be submitted to the tax administration (customs administration) on request.

2. Excise products [Article 24(1)(a)(ii) of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009]

A simplified accompanying document is required (Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3649/92)

  • Specimens with explanatory notes are shown in Annex to Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3649/92, separately for the supplier and for the recipient;
  • Commercial documents (e.g. invoices, delivery notes, freight documents and so on), may also be used as the simplified accompanying document provided they contain the same elements of information as the specimen document shown in the Annex to Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3649/92, and the nature of the information is identified by a number corresponding with the relative box number of the said specimen – in such a case, the commercial documents must be marked conspicuously as “Simplified accompanying document (excise goods) for fiscal control purposes” (see Articles 2 and 3 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3649/92).

Article 4 of the Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3649/92 stipulates that the simplified accompanying document shall be drawn up in three copies – copy 1 shall be kept by the supplier for fiscal control, copy 2 must accompany the goods during the movement and shall be kept by the recipient and copy 3 must accompany the goods and shall be returned to the supplier with a certificate of receipt.

3. Products not subject to excise duty (grapes, juice, pomaces) and excise products sent by small producers pursuant to Article 40 of Directive 2008/18/EC - (small wine producers – up to 1000 hl per year) [Article 24(1)a)iii) of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009]

Therefore the following must be considered an accompanying document:

  • an administrative document or a commercial document, bearing the MVVcode (code for wine products transport) assigned by the competent body or by the consignor (Article 24(1)a)iii), second indent of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009). Pursuant to Section 28 of the recitals, the document should also contain information allowing product identification and traceability of its transport route.

Hence for these cases there is no uniform form of the accompanying document.

See the above-mentioned specimen at E-Bacchus.

4. Products transported solely on the territory of the Czech Republic

As concerns transportation of wine products on the territory of a Member State only, the Member States can, in compliance with Article 24 Para 5 of Regulation No. 436/2009, acknowledge other accompanying documents as well (including documents based on electronic simplified procedure).

The Czech Republic provided for requirements for accompanying documents of wine products on the territory of the CR (Section 11 of Decree No. 88/2017 Coll.). The accompanying document is of a paper form specifying name, surname and signature of person(s) representing the sender – in case a legal person is concerned; name, surname and signature of person(s) who made out the accompanying document – in case a natural person is concerned.

Tax document, delivery note or another document are regarded as accompanying documents if they comply with requirements laid down by Section 13 of Decree No. 88/2017 Coll. The document could be used for one transport only, namely by the end of the third day since the beginning of the transport at the latest.

The person (transporter) that has its residence or seat on the customs territory of the European Union and transports or have transported a product on the territory of the Czech Republic only, may use an accompanying document which includes:

  • information of the sender = business company, address of the seat or residence, ID of the person who send the wine product or has it sent
  • dispatching address – if different from the address of the sender
  • information of the recipient = business company, address of the seat or residence, ID of the person for whom is the product sent if different from the sender
  • address of the final place of delivery – if different from the address of the recipient or sender;
  • information of the transporter (if different from the sender or recipient)
  • date of beginning of the transportation
  • date of termination of the transportation (if different from the date of its beginning)
  • number of the accompanying product
  • denomination of the sort of wine product according to Part XII of Annex I or Part VII to Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013
  • identification of the wine product
    • labelling of the must variety or traditional term (in case of wine which is provided by this information and it is packaged in a packaging intended for consumers labelled pursuant to Art. 118 and 119 of Regulation No. 1308/2013 and provided by disposable closure)
    • code of the wine territory and operation during processing pursuant to part B of point 1.4 of Annex VI to Regulation No. 436/2009
    • vintage year, must variety or  traditional term, if this information is provided and they are not wines in packaging for consumers and provided with disposable closure
  • lot identification
  • identification of the bottler or producer if different from the information of the sender – it is not required in case of transport of wine products in packaging for final consumers with disposable closure and labelled pursuant to Art. 118 and 119 of Regulation No. 1308/2013
  • information of the amount of the transported products pursuant to Part C of Annex VI to Regulation No. 436/2009
    • as for bulk product – in volume units
    • as for packaged wine product – number of packagings and their volume
    • as for fresh wine  grapes other than table grapes – in mass units
  • certification of PDO/PGI or certification of the vintage year/must variety – if it is not wine produced on the territory of the Czech Republic which does not leave the territory of the Czech Republic during the whole distribution process  – it is not required in case of transport of wine products in the packaging for final consumers with disposable closure and labelled pursuant to Art. 118 and 119 of Regulation No. 1308/2013
  • during transport of products originating from third countries also number of VI 1 document or reference number of equal document approved by respective bodies of the country of origin
  • names of traditional denominations, varieties could be supplemented by abbreviations in the accompanying documents. The list of such abbreviations is laid down by Annex No. 2 to Decree No. 88/2017 Coll.

Specimen of the accompanying document according to Decree No. 88/2017 Coll. is available on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture:http://eagri.cz/public/web/mze/zemedelstvi/rostlinna-vyroba/rostlinne-komodity/reva-vinna-a-vino/obchod-s-vinem/

Specimen certification of the vintage year, certification of the wine grape variety(ies), certification of the vintage year and the wine grape variety(ies):

As concerns certification of the variety/year, the accompanying document (explanatory note 17l, see the specimen at E-Bacchus) shall contain a statement, verbatim – see Annex IXa Part B of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009 (various language versions):

  • For wines with the indication of the vintage year: in Hungarian: “Ez az okmány a szüret évét igazoló okmánynak minősül az 1308/2013/EU rendelet 120. cikkének megfelelően” (“This document certifies the vintage year, in accordance with Article 120 of Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013“).
  • For wines with the indication of wine grape variety(ies) in Hungarian: “Ez az okmány a borszőlőfajtát vagy borszőlőfajtákat (»fajtabor«) igazoló okmánynak minősül az 1308/2013/EU rendelet 120. cikkének megfelelően” (“This document certifies the wine grape variety(ies) (“varietal wines”), in accordance with Article 120 of Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013”).
  • For wines with the indication of the vintage and the wine grape variety(ies) in Hungarian: “Ez az okmány a szüret évét és a borszőlőfajtát vagy borszőlőfajtákat (»fajtabor«) igazoló okmánynak minősül az 1308/2013/EU rendelet 120. cikkének megfelelően” (“This document certifies the vintage year and the wine grape variety(ies) (“varietal wines”), in accordance with  Article 120 of Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013“).

This statement may be included in the accompanying document only provided that certification takes place in the country where the sine was produced. If the wine is produced in the CR from grapes harvested in Hungary, certification will be carried out by CAFIA.

Specimen of PDO/PGI certificate:

As concerns PDO/PGI certificates (e.g. Balatoni/ Balatonmelléki), the accompanying document (explanatory note 17l see the specimen at E-Bacchus) shall contain a statement, verbatim – see Annex IXa Part B. of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009 (various language versions):

  • For CHOP “Balatoni”: in Hungarian: “Ez az okmány az oltalom alatt álló eredetmegjelölést tanúsító okmánynak minősül”, “Nyilvántartási szám az E-Bacchus nyilvántartásban: [PDO-HU-A1507]” (“This document certifies the protected designation of origin No. PDO-HU-A1507 in the E-Bacchus register“).
  • for PGI “Balatonmelléki”: in Hungarian: “Ez az okmány az oltalom alatt álló földrajzi jelzést tanúsító okmánynak minősül”, “Nyilvántartási szám az E-Bacchus nyilvántartásban: [PGI-HU-A1508]” (“This document certifies the protected geographical indication“: “No.. [PGI-HU-A1508] in the E-Bacchus register”).

This statement may be included in the accompanying document only provided that the wine is produced in accordance with specification.

II. By the use to be made of wine – bottling, trade, sale to consumers (relation to the type of container where the product is placed, and the obligation to keep registers)

  • Bottler (fills/places products for trade purposes into vessels no larger than 60 litres) – the obligation to keep records (hereinafter ″R″ only) on the spot, accompanying document is required for bulk wine (wine in vessels larger than 60 litres); for requirements for the accompanying documents see the TABLE, accompanying document in specific regime (regime of transport of unpackaged wine products where the sender is obliged to send, on the departure, a copy of the accompanying document to the competent authority within whose territory the place of loading is situated, who shall inform the competent authority within whose territory the place of unloading is situated).
  • Retailers, traders (trading in packaged and unpackaged wine in containers of a volume of more than 60 litres and less) – obligation to keep R on the spot where the product is kept (retailer) or in the Vineyard Register (trader), accompanying document is required for packaged labelled wines or packaged wines or unpackaged wines, for mandatory information in the accompanying document see the TABLE, accompanying document for unpackaged wines under a special regime (see above).
  • Sale to consumers

Required accompanying documents for packaged labelled wines, packaged wines or bulk wines (unpackaged wines).

Retailers – natural or legal persons or groups of such persons whose business activity includes the sale directly to the consumer of wine in small quantities, but not those who use cellars equipped for storing and, if appropriate, facilities for bottling wines in large quantities or who engage in itinerant trading in wine transported in bulk (Article 22 c) of Regulation No. 436/2009).

Those who are not considered retailers are obliged to keep registers. In addition to retailers, persons not obliged to keep registers are those selling drinks for consumption only on the premises (public catering premises operators).

A. Point of sale where the volume of wine sold by the retailer to the final consumer in 1 wine year does not exceed 750 hectolitres in the packaging for final consumers*, or 1,000 litres of bulk wine, place of sale using a cellar/warehouse or equipment for bottling of wine in small amount, i.e. retail is concerned (it is exempt from the obligation to keep R pursuant to Article 37 Para 1a) of Regulation No. 436/2009):

  • Wine in packaging for final consumers if exempt from the obligation pursuant to Article 25 letter b) of regulation No. 436/2009 – accompanying document required
  • Bulk wine – accompanying document required (under special regime)

* In case the amount of 1,000 l of bulk wine is exceeded, the FBO keeps R for bulk wine only

B. Point of sale where the volume of wine sold by the retailer to the final consumer in 1 wine year exceeds 750 hectolitres in the packaging for final consumers**, or 1,000 litres of bulk wine, place of sale using a cellar/warehouse or equipment for bottling of wine in higher amount; retail is not concerned anymore (does not fall under the exemption from the obligation to keep R pursuant to Article 37 Para 1a) of Regulation No. 436/2009):

  • Wine in the packaging for final consumers – accompanying document required, obligation to keep R on the place where the product is kept (reference to the accompanying document is specified in R)
  • Bulk wine – accompanying document required (under special regime), obligation to keep R on the place where the product is kept (reference to the accompanying document is specified in R)

**In commercial chains, the registers will be required only in distribution centres – see Article(2), last paragraph of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009.

C. Public catering premises (pursuant to Article 37 Para 1b) of Regulation No. 436/2009 excluded from the obligation to keep R)

  • Wine in the packaging for final consumers – accompanying document required
  • Bulk wine – accompanying document required (under special regime)

D. Itinerant trading

  • Wine in the packaging for final consumers – accompanying document required
  • Bulk wine – accompanying document required (under special regime), obligation to keep R on the premises (it is not exempt from the obligation to keep R), reference to the accompanying document is specified in R

Exemptions – no accompanying document required

Situations where the accompanying document is not required (it does not need to be issued at all and it cannot be required either within cooperation or in registers) are specified in detail by Article 25 of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009.

In general, those are cases of wine products in containers of a volume of more than 60 are concerned when producers transport grapes to winemaking establishments of their own or of consignees within a limited distance. In addition, those are cases where the producer transports the product between two establishments of the same undertaking on a defined territory (usually local administrative unit – i.e. municipality in the CR), or to another establishment for the purpose of winemaking.

As concerns wine products in container of a volume of 60 litres and less, accompanying documents are not required for transport of products in containers of a volume of 5 litres and less (labelled and fitted with a non-reusable closing device) if the total transported volume does not exceed 100 litres (5 litres in the case of concentrated grape must). However, a title deed must be available.

In the case where no accompanying document is required pursuant to point (b)(i) to (v) of Article 25 of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009, consignors other than retailers or private individuals disposing from time to time of the product to other private individuals must be able at any time to prove the accuracy of all the entries laid down for the registers.

Accompanying documents required for grape must in fermentation and grapes

Grape must in fermentation, a packaged or unpackaged wine product – its delivery from abroad must be accompanied either with a simplified accompanying document or, in case of small producers, with an administrative or commercial document – it is a product subject to zero excise duty. For transport carried out solely on the territory of the CR, accompanying documents complying with requirements of Section 11 of Decree No. 88/2017 Coll. could be used.

Where a labelled or unlabelled barrel of a volume of 60 litres and less is concerned, an accompanying document with mandatory information according to the TABLE will be required from the seller.

Where a barrel of a volume of more than 60 litres is concerned, the accompanying document must contain all mandatory information for unpackaged products – see the TABLE.

In such a case, the accompanying document will be in a special regime. The obligation to keep the registers will depend on the part (A – D) under which the seller will fall.

Grapes, an unpackaged wine product – their delivery from abroad (EC countries) must be accompanied with an accompanying document as pursuant to Article 147(1) of Regulation No. 1308/2013, the products of the wine sector shall be put into circulation in the Union with an officially authorized accompanying document.

An administrative or commercial document will be required, see the specimen at E-Bacchus – it is a product exempt from the excise duty.

Labelling of the product (17p) shall specify that those are grapes for production of wine.

Putting wine products into circulation without a valid document

Remedial measures (correction of a material error, issue of a new document) pursuant to Article 34(1)a) of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009 – within the limits of CAFIA responsibilities, measures can be ordered pursuant to Section 5(1)a) of Act No. 146/2002 Coll. (i.e. ban on putting a wine product into circulation) and pursuant to Section 5(1)c) of the Act (measure to remove identified defects), and a request to cooperate can be made pursuant to Section 8 c) of Act No. 255/2012 Coll., Control Act. If the inspected person subsequently presents the document, putting wine products into circulation will be permitted on the basis of Section 5(a) Para 1 of Act No. 146/2002 Coll.

Check of accompanying documents for third-country wine products

Pursuant to Article 90(3) of Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013 and Article 40 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 555/2008, imports of grape juice, must, grape must in fermentation and wine are subject to the presentation of a single document at the point of entry, consisting of:

  • a certificate drawn up by a body in the third country of the product's origin,
  • an analysis report drawn up by an official laboratory of the country of the product's origin.

The certificate and the analysis report shall be completed in a separate form VI 1 (Annex IX to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 555/2008) or VI 2 – extract from document VI 1 or other document VI 2 (Annex X to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 555/2008).

The single document does not need to be presented for products originating in and imported from third countries in containers of a maximum volume of 5 litres, labelled and fitted with a non-reusable closing device, if the total transported volume which may comprise several independent consignments of a volume of 100 litres and less, and in cases pursuant to Article 42(2) of Regulation (EC) No. 555/2008.

Special rules for particular wines

In the case of liqueur wines and wines fortified for distillation, the VI 1 documents must have the following entered in box 14:

“The alcohol added to this wine is certified as being wine alcohol.” The entry must be accompanied by the full name and address, the signature of an official and the stamp of the body which drew up the document.

The VI 1 document may be used as certifying that an imported wine bears a geographical indication; box 14 shall indicate the following:

“The wine covered by this document is certified as having been produced in the … wine-growing region and was given the geographical indication shown in box 6 in accordance with the provisions of the country of origin.” The entry must be accompanied by the full name and address, the signature of an official and the stamp of the agency which drew up the document.

Where consignments are accompanied with the required documents, the customs office releases them for free circulation without CAFIA's involvement. Consignments without documents cannot be released for free circulation. The sole document is, therefore, essential for the customs administration; for CAFIA, it is relevant only to such an extent that the next time the wine product is put into circulation, it must contain some basic information from the VI 1 document (see below).

Consignment of a third-country product released into free circulation:

For any consignment of third-country products released into free circulation, the accompanying document shall include the following information or allow the competent bodies to access thereto:

  • the number of the VI 1 document accompanying the consignment
  • the name and address of the authority of the third country which completed that document or authorized its completion by a producer
  • the date on which that document was completed

For any consignment of products originating within the Union, initially exported to a third country, the accompanying document shall include the following information or allow the competent bodies to have access to this information:

  • the reference to the accompanying document referred to in Article 24(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009, drawn up for the initial dispatch
  • the references to the other supporting documentation produced by the importer evidencing the origin of the product

Check of accompanying documents for wine products for export to third countries

In the case of wine products consigned to a third country, one of the documents specified in Article 24(1)a) i) or iii) of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009 (i.e. not a simplified accompanying document) shall be recognized as the accompanying document pursuant to Article 24(1)b) of the Regulation.

The accompanying documents must contain the information specified in Part C of Annex VI of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009 (pursuant to Article 24(3) of the Regulation).

Use of an accompanying document for export

Where the wine products circulate under cover of a document referred to in Article 24(1)(a)(i), proof of exit from the Union's customs territory shall be constituted by the report of export referred to in Article 25 of Directive 2008/118/EC, drawn up by the customs office of export.

Where the wine products circulate under cover of the document referred to in Article 24(1)(a)(iii), proof of the exit from the Union's customs territory shall be established in accordance with Article 796e of Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2454/93 (the export customs office confirming the exit to the exporter or the declarant). In that case, the consignor or the consignor's agent shall record the reference of the export accompanying document, hereinafter the “EAD”, issued by the customs office of export on the accompanying document, using one of the references set out in Annex IX to Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009 (in Czech: „Vyvezeno: VDD č. … ze dne …“/“Exported: EAD No. … of [date]).

TABLE:

Mandatory information concerning product specification – further mandatory information follows from Annex VI to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009

Mandatory information*

Description of the product
  1. Type of product (not if the label contains a PDO/PGI name)
  2. Wines with PDO/PGI, a PDO/PGI expression (can be left out sometimes) and PDO/PGI name  (plus quality registration number in the case of national wines with PDO)
  3. Actual alcoholic strength in % volume
  4. Specification of origin
  5. Name of the bottler or producer/seller
  6. Name of the importer in the case of imported wines
  7. Sugar content (only certain wines)
  8. Lot number
  9. Allergen information
  10. Quantity – nominal volume + number of containers
  11. Refractive index or density in the case of non-fermented products
  12. Total alcoholic strength in the case of products in fermentation
  13. Sugar content of concentrated grape must/juice and rectified concentrated grape must in grams, per litre and per kilogram
  14. Density of fresh grape must with fermentation arrested by the addition of alcohol
  15. Wine zone code
  16. Wine operation code/operations performed
  17. Quality registration number

Packaged labelled wines (wine in a labelled container of a volume of 60 litres and less)

Mandatory points in this category:
1, 2, 4-10, 15, 17 (Articles 118+119 of Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013)

Packaged unlabelled wines(wine in an unlabelled container of a volume of 60 litres and less)

Mandatory points in this category:
1-15, 17 (+ Annex VI Part B Section 1.3. (a) - (d) of Regulation(EC) No. 436/2009)

Unpackaged wines (wine in a container of a volume of more than 60 litres)

Mandatory points in this category:
1-17 (+ Annex VI Part B Section 1.4. (a) + (b) of Regulation(EC) No. 436/2009)

*Optional indications for bulk transport of unpackaged products (Annex VI Part B Section 1.2. of Regulation (EC) No. 436/2009): for the bulk transport of the wines referred to in paragraphs 1 to 9, 15 and 16 of Annex VII Part II to Regulation (EC) No. 1308/2013, the product description must contain the optional particulars set out in Article 120 of that Regulation, provided that they are shown in the labelling or that it is planned to show them on the labelling.