Wine Law

442 WINE LAW contemplated in the last Article of the Schedule, which provides: “ Community Law shall apply in cases where this protocol does not explicitly indicate otherwise. ” 17 . 3.3. Legal Notice No. 416 of 2007, “DOK Wines Production Protocols Regulations” This Subsidiary Legislation 436.07 specifically regulates the DOK, being subsequently amended in part by Legal Notice No. 168 of 2011 entitled “DOK Wines Production Protocols (Amendment) Regulations”. Furthermore, Legal Notice No. 416 is four pages long with eight Articles; however, the effective provisions thereof, which are rather detailed and pertaining to it, are carried in two Schedules as expected, since the DOK certified wines must be closely monitored to be so certified according to a rather rigid protocol as shall be briefly referred to hereunder. Schedule I is entitled “Production Protocol of the “MALTA” D.O.K. wines” and has three annexes, whilst Schedule II, entitled “Production Protocol of the “GOZO” D.O.K. wines”, only has two annexes. The annexes have been referred to for comparison purposes under Legal Notice No. 167 of 2007. Both these Schedules overlap extensively with each other. It is not the intension of this paper to replicate what is carried in the relative Legal Notice, which is motivated by the EU Legislation to achieve a DOK certification of locally produced wines but to focus on the main provisions thereof. This Subsidiary Legislation specifically provides that “ Wines shall only be certified as “MALTA” D.O.K wines of the protocol in Schedule I is fully respected .” 18 . The same condition is found for the “ Gozo ” DOK wines 19 . The protocol provides the necessary guidelines to be adhered to by all registered wine producers, including how the containers must be made available at the wine establishment and in any cellar “ with the precise specifications of the relative capacities together with an identification code and indication of their exact position by means of an architectural plan to scale. ” Moreover, the “ identification codes on the containers must be fixed and indelible .” 20 . Any and all samples of the wine at bottling stage, for analysis purpose, must be taken by the authorities’ officers in the presence of the wine producer or his 17 Ibid , Schedule I, Article 10.1 18 Legal Notice No. 416 of 2017, Article 4(3). 19 Ibid , Article 4(4). 20 Ibid , Article 5(8).