C 143/8 EN Official Journal of the European Union 6.5.2017 OTHER ACTS EUROPEAN COMMISSION Publication of an amendment application pursuant to Article 50(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151 /2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs (2017/C 143/09) This publication confers the right to oppose the application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1). APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF NON-MINOR AMENDMENTS TO THE PRODUCT SPECIFICATION FOR A PROTECTED DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN OR PROTECTED GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION Application for approval of amendments in accordance with the first subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 ‘CHASSELAS DE MOISSAC’ EU No: PDO-FR-02205 — 21.11.2016 PDO ( X ) PGI ( ) 1. Applicant group and legitimate interest Syndicat de défense du Chasselas de Moissac AOC Address: 1 promenade Sancert 82200 Moissac FRANCE Tel. +33 563040178 Fax +33 563041121 Email: [email protected] The applicant group for the ‘Chasselas de Moissac’ PDO is composed of producers and processors of ‘Chasselas de Moissac’ and therefore has a legitimate interest in submitting an amendment application. 2. Member State or Third Country France 3. Heading in the product specification affected by the amendment(s) — Product name — Description of product — Geographical area — Proof of origin — Method of production — Link — Labelling — Other: geographical area, inspections 4. Type of amendment(s) — Amendments to the product specification of a registered PDO or PGI not to be qualified as minor within the meaning of the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 (1) OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1. 6.5.2017 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 143/9 — Amendments to the product specification of a registered PDO or PGI for which a Single Document (or equivalent) has not been published and which cannot be qualified as minor within the meaning of the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 5. Amendment(s) Description of product The sugar content of the grapes is monitored using a refractometer providing immediate results expressed in degrees Brix. It is proposed that the minimum sugar content be set at 17,2 degrees Brix, which corresponds to 160,4 g/l, instead of at 160 g/l, as is the case at present. This amendment does not alter the intrinsic characteristics of the product, but it does make monitoring easier. Therefore the provision ‘The sugar content is equal to or above 160 g/l.’ now reads ‘The sugar content is equal to or above 17,2 degrees Brix.’. The possibility of derogating from the minimum sugar content in the event of exceptional climatic conditions has been removed. The derogation ‘except in exceptional climatic conditions where, for a g iven harvest, this index can be low­ ered provided that it is no lower than 150 g/l.’ has therefore been removed. That provision was inappropriate. The sentence ‘The grapes are perfectly healthy’ has been added, the objective being to guarantee the quality of the product. Grape berries with any deterioration are thus excluded. The sentence ‘Maturity is considered to have been reached only when the sugar to acidity ratio is above 25.’ has been simplified and now reads ‘The sugar to acidity ratio is above 25.’. Only the analytical element has been kept in the ‘Description of product’ section. The requirement that the grapes be harvested when they are properly ripe has been moved to the ‘Description of the method of production’ section, as follows: ‘The grapes are harvested when properly ripe’, since that provision relates to the method of production. The sentence ‘It is compulsory for the bunches to be prepared, and for the grapes to be cut from them and pack­ aged.’ has been moved from the ‘Description of product’ section to the ‘Description of the method of production’ section and supplemented as follows: ‘The grapes are cut from the bunches and packaged in a bunch cutting and packaging workshop’, since that provision relates to the method of production and the aim is to supplement the following sentence, which is already contained in the registered specification: ‘The bunches, including those coming out of long-term storage, are prepared in the bunch cutting and packaging workshop.’. Proof of origin Owing to developments in national legislation and regulations, the text of the ‘Evidence that the product originates from the defined geographical area’ section has been consolidated to bring together, in particular, provisions on declaration requirements and the keeping of registers for tracing products and monitoring production conditions. In order to provide a better framework for the procedure for monitoring operators and to simplify it, the ‘annual declaration of suitability’ to be submitted annually by each producer has been replaced by a ‘declaration of non- intent to produce’, which operators must submit if they do not want to use any or part of their production tools for production. That section has also been supplemented to include several provisions on registers, declaration documents and a specific identification and traceability system making it possible to guarantee the traceability of the products and verify their compliance with the requirements of the specification. Method of production As regards the density and the distance of the vines (which remain unchanged), the sentence ‘The methods for implementing the density and distance must follow the requirements contained in Article 5 of the decree concern­ ing “AOC Chasselas de Moissac”’ has been removed, since it is no longer necessary to refer to the national text and these arrangements covered a period of adjustment of the vines that no longer applies. Similarly, the yield per vine has been added to the sentence ‘the average maximum yield of the designation of origin for the holding is set at 13 t/ha’. This makes it possible to limit the number of bunches per vine in order to obtain a high-q uality bunch of grapes. Consequently, holdings with low-density vines compared to the authorised maximum densities must not maximise the yield of their vines, as that would be detrimental to the quality of the grapes. The following yields have been added: ‘4 k g/vine for single trellis systems and 5,2 k g for double trellis systems’. The possibility of derogating from the maximum total yield in the event of exceptional climatic conditions has been removed, because it was not included in the specification. C 143/10 EN Official Journal of the European Union 6.5.2017 The provisions on the long-term storage have been supplemented as follows: — It has been indicated that the deterioration referred to in the sentence ‘The grapes may be put into long-term storage after the removal of the grapes spoiled in harvesting (…)’ concerns deterioration caused ‘by botrytis’, — it has been added that the bunches of grapes are arranged in a single layer, placed ‘upright’ (tail upwards), in tray-like, latticed or vented containers, — the following sentence has been added: ‘The grapes selected on the vine are healthy, ripe and without any moisture.’, — the sentence ‘These grapes, which are not cut from the bunch, are then cooled rapidly upon their arrival at the place of storage’ has been supplemented by ‘in a cold chamber during a minimum of 12 h at a temperature of between 0 and 1 °C. They must then be protected using sulphur dioxide.’, which replaces the less precise provi­ sion ‘, in a cold chamber subject to a controlled atmosphere, temperature and hygrometry’, — the storage conditions of grapes in long-term storage have been described: ‘The containers are grouped together on a pallet and wrapped in hermetically sealed plastic film before being put in a cold chamber at a temperature varying between 0° and 1 °C and with a moisture content above 90 %.’, which replaces ‘put into long-term storage hermetically sealed’, — the transport conditions of the grapes between the parcel where they are harvested and the bunch cutting and packaging workshop have been described more clearly: ‘they are transported as rapidly as possible from the vineyard to the packaging workshop. They must be arranged in a s ingle layer, ‘tail upwards’, in latticed or vented containers’, — the following sentence has been added: ‘the lighting or luminosity measured in the working spaces of bunch cutting and packaging workshops must be at least 500 lux’, — finally, the following has been added: ‘In order to preserve the characteristics of the product, whenever a pack­ age exceeds 800 g, the bunches of grapes are presented in a single layer in trays holding a maximum of 8 kg. However, one to three bunches may be arranged on top of this layer, provided they are placed on a (paper) tissue.’ The purpose of this information is to provide a better framework for the practices and ensure the quality of the product. By stating that the grapes must be protected using sulphur dioxide, more specific information is given on the storage conditions in the cold chamber. Link The information on the link has been supplemented in order to better describe the know-how but also to improve the consistency between the different parts of the chapter. This re-writing highlights more clearly the link between the product and its geographical area. This more detailed description of the link has been added to the Single Document. Labelling The references to the controlled designation of origin have been removed from this chapter as well as from the other chapters of the specification. Other Geographical area: The parcel identification rules, a procedure already provided for in the specification registered under the ‘Proof of origin’ section, have been moved to the ‘Geographical area’ chapter of the specification and supplemented with the date for submitting the application for identification of the parcels (before the 1st of February preceding the first harvest).