Legislation governing viticulture and wine production of the Republic of Serbia and compliance with EU standards

The 14th Congress of the Serbian fruit growers and vine growers was held in the period between 9th and 12th October 2012 in Vrnjačka Banja. The roundtable discussion on the subject of “Legislation in viticulture and wine production of the Republic of Serbia and compliance with EU standards“ was held on 11th October 2012.

The roundtable discussion was attended by the representatives from: the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Faculty of Agriculture (Department for Fruit Science and Viticulture, inspection body for the geographical origin of wines, University of Belgrade, Accreditation Body of Serbia, Centre for Viticulture and Wine Production Niš (professional association for Vineyard Registry), wine producers in the Republic of Serbia, and Mr Massimo Barbieri (advisor on the twinning project for the vineyard register and legislation in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy).

The roundtable discussion aimed at informing producers and relevant institutions about the obligations and opportunities that the grape and wine producers will have in the future.

In order to harmonise domestic legislation with that of the EU, a set of Regulations is being prepared. However, the following are also being developed: Regulation on the conditions for recognition, process of recognition of marks for still wines and some special wines with geographical origin, and the method of production and labelling of still wines and some special wines with geographical origin; Regulation on technical and personnel requirements that an inspection body should fulfil, the method of managing business activities related to geographical origin, the work methods and procedures of an inspection body, the inspection of the grape production for the production of wine with geographical origin and the inspection of the wine production with geographical origin. It is predicted that these regulations require that the GI inspection bodies should be accredited according to the requirements of SRPS ISO/IEC 17020 for inspection activities and according to the requirements of SRPS EN 45011 for certification activities.

Nikola Kostić attended the Congress on behalf of the Accreditation Body of Serbia.