31.12. 88 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 373/59 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 4252/88 of 21 December 1988 on the preparation and marketing of liqueur wines produced in the Community THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES. Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (%), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3), Whereas at present there are no Community -provisions governing the conditions under which liqueur wines are prepared and marketed; whereas, in view of the economic importance of such products, common-provisions need to be adopted in this area in order to enhance the operation of the wine market as a whole; ‘Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 of 16 March 1987 on the common organization of the market in wine (4), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 4250/88 (%), comprises rules concerning the preparation and marketing of table wines; whereas those rules should be supplemented by adopting corresponding provisions for all liqueur wines produced in the Community; whereas, as far as quality liqueur wines produced in specified regions (quality liqueur wines psr) are concerned, account must be taken of the fact that these are quality wines psr and must therefore conform to Council Regulation (EEC) No 823/87 of 16 March 1987 laying down special provisions relating to quality wines produced in specified regions (¢); Whereas liqueur wines should be made subject to a system of rules governing production, preparation, marketing and controls, together with common rules, which, while maintaining quality distinctions, enables distortions of competition to be avoided, the free circulation of such products to be facilitated. and the consumer to be protected; Whereas such a measure will help to guide the consumer in his choice by providing him in particular with the assurance that each product presented meets specific quality requirements; whereas it is thereby likely to protect the interests of the producer, to encourage intra-Community trade, to increase demand and therefore to ensure the increased disposal of wine products; (1) OJ No C 87, 2. 4. 1987, p. 10 and OJ No C 11, 16. 1. 1988, p. 7. (2) OJ No C 318, 30. 11. 1987, p. 55. () OJ No C 232, 31. 8. 1987, p. 14. (*) O] No L 84, 27. 3. 1987, p. 1. (5) See page 55 of this Official Journal. (¢) OJ No L 84, 27. 3. 1987, p. 59. Whereas all liqueur wines and the products used in their preparation must be made subject to minimum quality requirements; whereas provision should accordingly be made for their minimum- characteristics; Whereas additional provisions should also be laid down-on - the analytical characteristics of the products used for the - preparation of liqueur wines where wine distillate or dried grapes are used; Whereas, in order to  avoid -the use of sucrose in the sweetening of liqueur wines, the use of rectified concentrated grape must should be permitted in addition to that of concentrated grape must; Whereas the process of preparing liqueur wines requires operators to keep a wide range of raw materials and in particular of spirits which may be used in particular for the manufacture of artificial wine; whereas provision should consequently be made for better controls on such activity and in particular, in order to avoid such manufacture, for a declaration of such activity to be submitted to the competent authority by operators and to require them to keep registers recording the entry and use of products put into service; Whereas, in order to take account of certain traditional practices, it is appropriate that, by way of derogation, for the quality liqueur wines psr ‘Malaga’ and ‘Jerez-Xérés-Sherry’, sweetening should also be allowed by means of concentrated grape must or partially fermented grape must obtained from raisined grapes of the Pedro Ximénez variety, coming from the ‘Montilla-Moriles’ specified region; Whereas, in view of the traditional practices contributing towards the reputation of port quality liqueur wine psr, the geographical ascription in question should be recognized by way of a derogation, in respect of that designation only, as covering a different delimited area from that in which the raw materials used were produced; Whereas certain quality liqueur wines psr which are subject to special production rules are marketed with traditional specific names; whereas a Community framework should therefore be established to define these products; Whereas however, the names ‘vin doux naturel’, ‘ofvog PLOIKOG YAVKDUG', ‘vino dulce natural’, ‘vino dolce naturale’ and ‘vinho doce natural’ are connected with preparation traditions which vary from one Member State to another; whereas it is therefore necessary, to avoid all confusion, to provide that these names are used only in the language of the country in which they are produced, while allowing them to be accompanied by additional information in a language