C 60/4 EN Official Journal of the European Union 15.2.2019 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 7 February 2019 on the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of an application to amend the specification for a name in the wine sector in accordance with Article 105 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Barbera d’Asti (PDO)) (2019/C 60/05) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007 (1), and in particular Article 97(3) thereof, Whereas: (1) Italy submitted an application to amend the specification for the name ‘Barbera d’Asti’ in accordance with Article 105 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013. (2) The Commission examined the application and found that the conditions laid down in Articles 93 to 96, 97(1), 100, 101 and 102 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 had been met. (3) In order to allow statements of objection to be submitted in accordance with Article 98 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, the application to amend the specification for the name ‘Barbera d’Asti’ should be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: Sole Article The application to amend the specification for the name ‘Barbera d’Asti’ (PDO) in accordance with Article 105 of Regu­ lation (EU) No 1308/2013 is contained in the Annex to this Decision. In accordance with Article 98 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, objections to the amendment of the specification referred to in the first paragraph of this Article may be submitted within two months of the date of publication of this Decision in the Official Journal of the European Union. Done at Brussels, 7 February 2019. For the Commission Phil HOGAN Member of the Commission (1) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671. 15.2.2019 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 60/5 ANNEX ‘Barbera d’Asti’ PDO-IT-A1398-AM02 Date of application: 2.12.2014 REQUEST FOR AMENDMENT TO THE PRODUCT SPECIFICATION 1. Rules applicable to the amendment Article 105 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 — Non-minor modification 2. Description of and reasons for the amendment 2.1. Amendment to the product specification of Barbera d’Asti DOCG (PDO) — Removal of references to the Nizza sub-area Amendment to the product specification containing a number of amendments to the single document referred to Article 94(1)(d) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013. Article 1 — Designation and wines — References to the Nizza sub-area have been deleted from paragraphs 1 and 2. In the single document references to wines from the Nizza sub-area have been deleted from sections 2.4, 2.5 and 2.5.2. These are formal amendments resulting from the request to convert the Nizza sub-area into a DOCG (PDO) in its own right (pursuant to Article 4(5) of Legislative Decree No 61/2010), as formalised with the application for protection of the corresponding ‘Nizza’ DOCG (PDO) (see file PDO-IT-01896). The amendment is linked to the request for protection of the ‘Nizza’ DOCG (PDO) (PDO-IT-01896) and the production area of the ‘Barbera d’Asti’ DOCG (PDO) referred to in Article 3 of the specification. The deletion of the Nizza sub-area, which was de facto an additional geographical qualification for ‘Barbera d’Asti’ DOCG (PDO) wines and accordingly was regulated in a separate accompanying specification, and its conversion to the ‘Nizza’ DOCG (PDO) in its own right does not bring about any change in the ‘Barbera d’Asti’ DOCG (PDO) production area. We would thus stress that that production area, described in Article 3, also includes the designated production area in the specification of the ‘Nizza’ DOCG (PDO), just as it has hitherto included the Nizza sub-area. This is fully in accordance with current EU and Italian law on the protection of PDOs and PGIs, which allows for the coexistence within one area of two or more designations, provided that they are regulated separately. In this context, producers will be able, at harvest time each year, to choose which PDO wine to produce in each vineyard (provided of course that they comply with the technical and production characteristics set out in the relevant specification). 2.2. Article 4 — Winegrowing standards Paragraph 2 — Amendment to the specification: The possibility of using emergency irrigation has been introduced by inserting the wording ‘emergency irrigation is permitted’ after the wording ‘any form of forcing is banned’. This amendment is motivated by the changes in climatic conditions in recent years, characterised by low rainfall and high average and maximum summer temperatures, which have caused excessive water stress in various hillside soil and climatic conditions. Allowing emergency irrigation makes it possible, where necessary, to avoid possible negative impact on the quality of grapes and the development of young plants. Paragraph 4 — Amendment to the specification: The words ‘ify necessar ’ have been deleted from the sentence ‘In the case of a year with a poor harvest, if necessary, the Piedmont regional government …’. This is a formal amendment in that the regional government intervenes on the reduction in yield every time a poor harvest occurs. The words ‘ify necessar ’ are therefore redundant and have been deleted without changing the meaning of the paragraph. 2.3. Article 5 — Winemaking standards Paragraph 4 — Amendment to the specification: In the context of the period of ageing of the wines, in the table mentioning the use of wood, the specific mention of ‘oak’ is deleted from the phrase ‘of which in wood (oak barrels of any size)’. C 60/6 EN Official Journal of the European Union 15.2.2019 This is because these days, whilst always seeking to obtain high quality products, producers need to be able to choose other types of wood that they consider more suitable for refining their wines. In any case, EU legislation on PDOs and PGIs does not require the botanical species from which the wood is derived to be indicated in product specifications. Please note that the only provision of EU legislation regulating this matter is Article 66(2) of and Annex XVI to Regulation (EC) No 607/2009, which, among the possible indications to be included on the labelling, also allow the use of indications such as ‘ cask aged’, ‘cask matured’ or ‘barrel matured’, i.e. without the botanical name of the species from which the wood is derived. Paragraph 4, final subparagraph — Amendment to the specification: The phrase ‘of the same vintage’ has been added after the wording ‘Barrels may be topped up with the same wine’. It was considered useful to specify that, during the period of ageing, the same type of wine from the same vintage must be used to top up barrels. Article 5(2) — Amendment to the specification: The unit of measure has been changed from ‘kg’ to ‘t’ in the phrase ‘the relevant grape yields in kg/ha as laid down in Article 4(3)’. This is a formal amendment in order to make the unit of measure consistent with that used in Article 4(3), to which reference is made and which indicates the grape yield in tonnes. 2.4. Article 6 — Characteristics on consumption Amendment to the specification: The following paragraph has been deleted: ‘2. The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy may, by its own decree, change the total acidity and sugar-free extract limits.’ This is a formal amendment as the option mentioned no longer complies with current legislation. 2.5. Article 7 — Name and presentation Article 7(3) — Amendment to the specification: The following indent has been deleted: ‘The word “Vigna” [vineyard] followed by the relevant place name or traditional name must be shown on the label using a font size that is less than or equal to 50 % of the font size used for the “Barbera d’Asti” DOCG (PDO).’ The purpose of this change is to avoid restrictive rules for indicating the words in question (Vigna + place name), referring instead to the general national and EU rules, thus allowing the indication in question, which is a key distinguishing feature of the wine producer, to be given more prominence. 2.6. Article 8 — Packaging Article 8(1) — Amendment to the specification: Formal amendment requiring the capacity of the containers to be indicated in litres instead of centilitres, in line with the standard system of measurements. At the same time, provision is made for all sizes from 0,187 litres to 12 litres, maintaining the exclusion for capacities of 2 litres, but including some larger sizes that previously could be used only for promotional purposes. This is based on commercial requirements aimed at making it possible to position the product in a range of different market segments. Above all, the use of larger-capacity bottles makes it possible to improve both the quality (creating optimal conditions for the process of ageing in the bottle) and the image of the wine, in that these are very valuable containers commensurate with the prestige of the wine. Article 8(3) — Amendment to the specification: The means of closing the bottles have been specified in accordance with current legislation, solely prohibiting the use of crown caps for Barbera d’Asti and Barbera d’Asti Superiore.