Union financing and national payments
1. Union financial support of a total amount of EUR 15 000 000 shall be available to Portugal to support the temporary exceptional crisis distillation measure provided for in Article 2 subject to the conditions set out in this Regulation.
2. The financial support referred to in paragraph 1 shall be allocated on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria and ensure that the resulting payments do not cause any market or competition distortion.
3. Expenditure borne by Portugal referred to in paragraph 1 in relation to the payments for the measure referred to in Article 2 shall only be eligible for Union financial support if those payments have been made by 30 April 2025.
4. Portugal may further finance the measure provided for in Article 2 with national payments up to 200 % of the Union financial support referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.
Temporary crisis distillation of wine
1. Support may be granted for the distillation of red wines produced in the continental territory of Portugal and protected by a designation of origin or a geographical indication in accordance with Part II, Title II, Chapter I, Section 2, of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013.
2. The alcohol resulting from the supported distillation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be used exclusively for industrial purposes, including disinfection or pharmaceutical, or for energy purposes so as to avoid distortion of competition.
3. The beneficiaries of the support referred to in paragraph 1 shall be wine enterprises producing or marketing the grapevine products referred to in Part II of Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, wine producer organisations, wine cooperatives, associations of two or more producers, interbranch organisations or distillers of grapevine products.
4. Only the costs of the supply of wine to distillers and of the distillation of this wine shall be eligible for support. Value added tax shall not be eligible for support. The wine to be distilled under this measure shall be conform to the requirements to be marketed within the Union and to the relevant product specifications of their protected designation of origin or protected geographical indication.
5. Portugal may establish priority criteria for the beneficiaries of this measure. Such priority criteria shall be objective and not discriminatory.
6. Portugal may provide for up to 80 % of the support for a given operation of crisis distillation, covered by an accepted support application under this Article, to be advanced to beneficiaries, provided that the beneficiary has lodged a bank guarantee or an equivalent security, at least equal to the amount of that advance, in favour of the Member State. For such operation to be eligible, the final payment of support shall be done before the date referred to in Article 1(3).
7. Portugal shall lay down rules on the application procedure for the support referred to in paragraph 1 and on the control of the measure, which shall include rules on:
(a)
the natural or legal persons that may submit applications;
(b)
the submission and selection of applications, which shall include at least the deadlines for the submission of applications, for the examination of the suitability of each proposed action and for the notification of the results of the selection procedure to the operators;
(c)
the verification of compliance with the provisions on eligible products and costs referred to in paragraph 4 and priority criteria where priority criteria are applied;
(d)
the selection of the applications, which shall at least include the weighting attributed to each priority criterion where priority criteria are applied;
(e)
arrangements for the payment of advances and the provision of securities;
(f)
the monitoring and control of the operations of distillation, the eligibility of the wines distilled and the use of the produced alcohol.
8. Portugal shall fix the amount of support to beneficiaries based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria, at regional or national level. The amount of support cannot exceed 80 % of the lowest monthly average price recorded at production level during the marketing year 2023/2024 for the eligible wine categories, in a given region or in the continental territory of Portugal, as appropriate. Where recorded market prices are not available, they may be estimated by a competent authority of Portugal based on the best available data.
Notifications and controls
1. By 31 August 2024, Portugal shall notify to the Commission the following:
(a)
the regions in which the measure referred to in Article 2 is to apply;
(b)
the amounts of compensation to be applied in accordance with Article 2(4) and (8), per region and type of eligible wine when appropriate, and their justification;
(c)
the respective volumes expected to be distilled;
(d)
the amount of national payments to be spent in accordance with Article 1(4).
2. By 30 June 2025, Portugal shall notify to the Commission the following:
(a)
the quantities of wine withdrawn from the market for each region and type of eligible wine;
(b)
the volumes of alcohol produced from the wine delivered and distilled in accordance with this Regulation;
(c)
the Union financial support referred to in Article 1(1);
(d)
the national payments referred to in Article 1(4), corresponding to the payments of wine withdrawn from the market.
3. The notifications to the Commission referred to in this Article shall be made in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1183 ( 4 ) .
4. In relation to the exceptional crisis distillation provided for in this Regulation, the competent authorities of the Member States shall carry out all necessary checks to verify the eligibility of wines and respect of all applicable conditions and requirements.
5. On-the-spot checks after the implementation of the crisis distillation operations supported under this Regulation shall be systematic.
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
