1. The accompanying document for the import of wine products shall comprise the certificate and the analysis report referred to in Article 90(3)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, respectively, and shall constitute a single document, hereinafter referred to as ‘VI-1 document’. However, the analysis report section of the VI-1 document does not need to be completed where the products are not intended for direct human consumption.
The competent bodies and designated bodies or departments referred to in Article 90(3)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 shall be those referred to in Article 51(1)(a) and (b) of this Regulation in respect of the third countries concerned.
2. The VI-1 document shall be drawn up and used in accordance with Articles 22 to 25 and shall be regarded as certifying that the imported product:
(a)
has the characteristics of a wine product in accordance with Union law or in compliance with a bilateral agreement in force between the Union and a third country;
(b)
was made from grapes of a specific vintage year or has been produced from the wine grape variety or varieties designated;
(c)
where applicable, complies with the specifications of the geographical indication in conformity with either the Agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights of the World Trade Organisation (‘TRIPS Agreement’), Union legislation on geographical indications or an agreement on recognition and protection of geographical indications between the Union and the third country from which the wine originates.
By way of derogation from Article 90(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, the following exemptions shall apply:
(a)
no VI-1 document needs to be presented for:
(i)
products in labelled containers of a nominal volume of 10 litres or less fitted with a non-reusable closing device, where the total quantity transported, whether or not made up of separate consignments, does not exceed 100 litres;
(ii)
wine and grape juice forming part of the personal property of private individuals transferring their normal place of residence from a third country to the Union within the meaning of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009;
(iii)
wine sent in consignments from one private individual to another, within the meaning of Article 25 of Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 up to a maximum of 30 litres per consignment;
(iv)
wine, grape must and grape juice contained in the personal luggage of travellers within the meaning of Article 41 of Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 up to a maximum of 30 litres per traveller;
(v)
wine and grape juice for trade fairs as defined in Article 90 of Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, provided that the products in question are put up in labelled containers of not more than two litres fitted with a non-reusable closing device;
(vi)
quantities of wine, grape must and grape juice in containers other than those referred to in point (v), imported for the purpose of scientific and technical experiments up to a maximum of 100 litres;
(vii)
wines and grape juice imported in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations of 18 April 1961, the Vienna Convention on consular relations of 24 April 1963 or other consular conventions, or the New York Convention of 16 December 1969 on special missions;
(viii)
wines and grape juice held in stores on board of ships and airplanes operating in international transport;
(ix)
wines and grape juice originating and bottled in the Union, exported to a third country and returned to the customs territory of the Union and released for free circulation;
(b)
in the case of wine put up in labelled containers of a capacity not exceeding 60 litres, fitted with non-reusable closing devices, and provided that the wine originates in a country which has offered special guarantees accepted by the Union, as listed in Section A of Part IV of Annex VII, the analysis report section of the VI-1 document needs to be completed only in respect of:
(i)
the actual alcoholic strength by volume;
(ii)
the total acidity;
(iii)
the total sulphur dioxide content.
Rules for drawing up the VI-1 document and the VI-2 extract
1. The VI-1 document shall be drawn up on a form corresponding to the specimen shown in Part I of Annex VII in accordance with the technical rules set out in that Annex.
It shall be signed by an official of a competent body and by an official of a designated body or department included in the list provided for in Article 51(1).
The original and a copy of the VI-1 document shall accompany the product.
An extract, hereinafter referred to as ‘VI-2 extract’, may be drawn up in accordance with the specimen shown in Part II of Annex VII, containing the data appearing on the VI-1 document or, in case a VI-2 extract was presented, on that VI-2 extract, and stamped by a Union customs office. The original and two copies of the VI-2 extract shall accompany the product.
2. VI-1 documents and VI-2 extracts shall bear a serial number assigned, in the case of VI-1 documents, by the competent body whose official signs the document and, in the case of VI-2 extracts, by the customs office which stamps them.
The original and the copy of the VI-1 document or the original and the copies of the VI-2 extract shall be handed over to the competent authorities of the Member State in which the customs formalities required for putting into free circulation the consignment to which they relate are carried out, on completion of those formalities as follows:
(a)
the customs authorities shall endorse the back of both the original and the copy of the VI-1 document or the original and the copies of the VI-2 extract, return the original of the VI-1 document or the original and a copy of the VI-2 extract to the person concerned and keep a copy of the VI-1 document or of the VI-2 extract for at least five years;
(b)
where a consignment is to be reconsigned before entry into free circulation, the new consignor shall give the customs authorities supervising the consignment the VI-1 document and the VI-2 extract relating to that consignment or, where that consignment is covered by a VI-2 extract completed previously and a VI-2 extract completed consecutively, those two VI-2 extracts.
In case a VI-2 extract is given together with the VI-1 document, the customs authorities shall verify that the particulars entered on the VI-1 document correspond to those entered on the VI-2 extract. In case a VI-2 extract completed consecutively is given together with a VI-2 extract completed previously, the customs authorities shall verify that the particulars entered on that VI-2 extract completed previously correspond to those entered on the VI-2 extract completed consecutively and shall stamp the latter, which shall then be equivalent to the VI-2 extract completed previously.
The customs authorities shall endorse the back of both the original and the copy of the VI-1 document or of the VI-2 extract completed previously.
The customs authorities shall return the original of the VI-1 document and of any VI-2 extract to the new consignor and shall keep the copies for at least five years.
However, a VI-2 extract does not need to be completed where a consignment of a product is re-exported to a third country;
(c)
where a consignment is split before it enters into free circulation, the person concerned shall give the original and the copy of the VI-1 document or of the VI-2 extract completed previously relating to the consignment to be split to the customs authorities supervising that consignment, together with the original of the VI-2 extract completed consecutively for each new consignment and two copies of them.
The customs authorities shall verify that the particulars entered on the VI-1 document or on the VI-2 extract completed previously correspond to those on the VI-2 extract completed consecutively for each new consignment. If they correspond, the customs authorities shall stamp the latter, which shall then be equivalent to the VI-2 extract completed previously, and endorse the back of both the original and the copy of the VI-1 document or of the VI-2 extract completed previously. They shall return the original of the VI-2 extract completed consecutively together with the original of the VI-1 document or of the VI-2 extract completed previously to the person concerned and keep a copy of each of those documents for at least five years.
In cases where a wine has been exported from the third country in the territory of which it was produced (hereinafter referred to as ‘the country of origin’) to another third country (hereinafter referred to as ‘the exporting country’) before being exported to the Union, the VI-1 document for the wine concerned shall be deemed to be valid for import into the Union if it has been drawn up by the competent bodies of the exporting country, without further analyses on that wine, on the basis of a VI-1 document or equivalent drawn up by the competent bodies of the country of origin, provided that the wine:
(a)
has been bottled and labelled in the country of origin and remains so; or
(b)
is exported in bulk from the country of origin and bottled and labelled in the exporting country without any further processing.
The VI-1 document of the exporting country shall bear the certification by the competent body of that country that the wine in question is a wine to which the first paragraph refers and that it fulfils the conditions set out therein.
The original or a certified copy of the VI-1 document or equivalent of the country of origin shall be attached to the VI-1 document of the exporting country.
The competent bodies of the third countries for the purposes of this Article shall be those included in the list provided for in Article 51(1).
Special rules on certification for particular wines
1. In the case of liqueur wines and wines fortified for distillation, the VI-1 documents shall be recognised as valid only where a competent body included in the list provided for in Article 51(1) has entered the following in box 14:
‘the alcohol added to this wine is certified as being wine alcohol’.
2. The VI-1 document may be used as certifying that an imported wine bears a geographical indication in conformity with either the TRIPS Agreement, Union legislation on geographical indications or an agreement on recognition and protection of geographical indications between the Union and the third country from which the wine originates.
In such a case, 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’.
3. The certification in box 14 referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be accompanied by the following information:
(a)
the full name and address of the issuing competent body;
(b)
the signature of an official of the competent body;
(c)
the competent body's stamp.
1. VI-1 documents drawn up by wine producers in the third countries that have offered special guarantees accepted by the Union, as listed in Section B of Part IV of Annex VII, shall be considered as VI-1 documents drawn up by competent bodies and designated bodies or departments included in the list provided for in Article 51(1) in respect of the third countries concerned, provided that the producers have received individual authorisation from the competent bodies of those third countries and are subject to inspection by the latter.
2. Authorised producers as referred to in paragraph 1 shall use and complete VI-1 documents, entering in particular:
(a)
in box 1, their names and addresses and their registration numbers in the third countries listed in Section B of Part IV of Annex VII;
(b)
in box 9, the name and address of the competent body of the third country which authorised them;
(c)
in box 10, at least the particulars provided for in Article 21(b).
The producers shall sign in the space provided in boxes 9 and 10, after striking out the words ‘name and title of official’.
Neither stamps nor the name and address of a designated body or department shall be required.
1. The VI-1 document may be replaced by an electronic document for the import into the Union of wine products from third countries which have in place a system of checks accepted by the Union, in accordance with the second subparagraph, as equivalent to that set up for the same products under Union legislation.
A system of checks in a third country may be accepted as equivalent to that set up for the same products by the Union if it fulfils at least the following conditions:
(a)
it offers sufficient guarantees as to the nature, the origin and the traceability of the wine products produced or traded on the territory of the third country concerned;
(b)
it guarantees access to the data held in the electronic system used with regard to the registration and the identification of operators, competent bodies and designated bodies or departments;
(c)
it guarantees the possibility to check the data referred to in point (b) within the framework of a mutual administrative cooperation.
Third countries having in place a system of checks accepted by the Union as equivalent in accordance with the second subparagraph shall be included in the list set out in Section C of Part IV of Annex VII.
2. The electronic document provided for in paragraph 1 shall contain at least the information necessary for drawing up the VI-1 document and a unique administrative reference code assigned by or under the control of the competent bodies of the third country of export. That code shall be indicated on the commercial documents required for the import into the customs territory of the Union.
3. Access to the electronic document or to the data necessary for its establishment shall be given by the third country of export at any request of the competent authorities of the Member State where the goods are to be released into free circulation. Where access to the relevant electronic systems is not available, such data may also be requested in the form of a paper document.
4. The VI-2 extracts referred to in Article 22(1) may also be issued and used using computerised systems in accordance with detailed rules laid down by the competent authorities of the Member States. The content of an electronic VI-2 extract shall be identical to the one on paper.
