WASHINGTON – U.S. Trade
Representative Rob Portman announced today that the
United States
and the European Community reached agreement on wine-making practices and
labeling of wine, aimed at facilitating bilateral trade in wine valued at $2.8
billion annually.
“This agreement is a win-win situation for
U.S. and EU winemakers, helping to establish
predictable conditions for bilateral wine trade,” said Ambassador Portman. “I
want to thank Chief Agricultural Negotiator Allen Johnson and especially Jim
Murphy, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs, who have
brought this difficult negotiation to a successful conclusion. The culmination of this agreement
reflects the extensive efforts by a number of Federal agencies in these
negotiations and in particular the work done by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and
Trade Bureau in the Treasury Department.”
The Agreement,
initialed today by Ambassador Johnson and the European Community’s Director
General of Agriculture and Rural Development José Manuel Silva Rodriguez, provides
for acceptance of existing wine-making practices and addresses a number of
labeling issues, helping to create marketing certainty for
U.S. and EU wine exporters.
In summary, the agreement provides for: 1) recognition of existing current
wine-making practices; 2) a consultative process for accepting new wine-making
practices; 3) the United States limiting the use of certain “semi-generic” terms
in the U.S. market; 4) the EU allowing under specified conditions for the use of
certain regulated terms on U.S. wine exported to the EU; 5) recognizing certain
names of origin in each other’s market; 6) simplifying certification
requirements; and 7) defining parameters for optional labeling elements of U.S.
wines sold in the EU market. The
Agreement does not address the use of “geographical indications,” a form of
intellectual property. The
Agreement also provides for a second phase of negotiations to address other
outstanding U.S.-EU wine trade issues.
BACKGROUND
Since 1983, the EU has been renewing short-term derogations
from their regulations for
U.S. wine made
using practices not recognized by the EU. The temporary nature of these
derogations created continuous uncertainty for
U.S. wine
exporters. This wine agreement is
intended to replace these derogations and provide stable market conditions for
the wine sector. For further
information, see the attached Fact Sheet.
U.S.
exports of wine worldwide and to the European Community have been steadily
increasing. In 2004, global
U.S. wine
exports exceeded $736 million, with exports to the European Community over $487
million. Total
U.S. imports of
wine from other countries in 2004 were nearly $3.4 billion, and
U.S. imports
from the European Community exceeded $2.3 billion.
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