Convention on the production and marketing of wines, spirituous liquors, other fermented beerages and beer

Recommendation 394 (1964)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 24th April 1964 (6th Sitting) (see Doc. 1729, report of the Committee on Agriculture). Text adopted by the Assembly on 24th April 1964 (6th Sitting).

The Assembly,

Recalling its Recommendation 378 (1963) concerning the application of the Convention on Vine Products, Spirits, Beers and Ciders;

Having noted the new report (Doc. 1729) of its Committee on Agriculture and the Resolution adopted on 7th January 1964 by the Autonomous Committee on Beer of the European Conference of National Associations and appended to the aforesaid report ;

Considering, as always, that it is psychologically and economically desirable to take account of the substantiated proposals put forward by the Trade Associations ;

Noting that the work on which the Committee of Experts has been engaged for five years must now be brought to a conclusion and the protocols on wines, spirits and ciders completed quickly, and by 31st December 1964 at the latest ;

Noting that the necessary documentation for drawing-up these protocols was assembled a long time ago and that the drafts have reached a stage where the necessary compromise solutions can now be worked out rapidly ;

Convinced that it is imperative, before tackling the protocol on beer, to draw up, on a reasonably equitable basis, the texts governing the first three sectors and that the provisions on beer can be appended separately, as a complement to the preceding ones,

Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

1 give the Committee of Experts strict instructions to complete the texts of the Convention on Wines, Spirits and Ciders by the end of the current year;

2 point out to the Committee of Experts, in application of Resolution (59) 1, that their terms of reference were merely to lay down general lines for the harmonisation of legislation, without seeking to supplement domestic legislations on minor details, since a convention of this nature, the first of its kind, must be confined to the main guiding principles with a view to ensuring quality and protecting public health ;

3 remind the Committee of Experts that the signature and ratification of the said convention are political acts incumbent respectively on the Governments and Parliaments ;

4 instruct, as soon as the work on wines, spirits and ciders has been completed, the Committee of Experts to draw up the supplementary texts forming a continuation of the preceding ones and designed to settle the problems of the brewing and marketing of beer, so that the legal provisions governing the whole vast sector of fermented beverages may be harmonised at European level.