Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Support) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon. Tony Burke MP, has asked me to make a statement on his behalf outlining the reason why debate on this bill was deferred. Following the introduction into the House of Representatives of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Amendment Bill 2009 on 22 June 2009 by the Hon. Tony Burke MP, European Commission regulation No. 607/2009 came into effect on 1 August 2009. The regulation outlined detailed rules regarding protected designations of origin and geographical indications—that is, regional names, traditional terms, labelling and presentation of certain wine sector products.

The Australian government and the Australian wine industry were both concerned that this regulation had the potential to diminish the benefits under the Australia-European Community Agreement on Trade in Wine—the agreement for Australian winemakers—which this bill implements. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry wrote to the EC Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development last year, expressing concern that the EC regulation imposed more restrictive conditions on Australian wines than existed at the date of the signing of the agreement. Minister Burke indicated that Australia wanted to resolve these concerns before proceeding to ratify the agreement. The main Australian concerns related to the access that Australian wine producers would have to grape variety names in the description and presentation of their wines. Australia’s interpretation of the EC regulation was that a number of common grape variety names, including sangiovese and nebbiolo would not be able to be used in the EC market by Australian producers. Such restrictions on use would have been detrimental to the Australian wine industry, especially given the increasing importance and popularity of these new and niche varieties in Australia’s domestic and overseas markets.

Australia and EC officials have discussed the Australian concerns and agreed that derogation from the regulation allowing certain EU wines with a geographical indication, or ‘GI’, to have alcohol content as low as 4.5 per cent continue to be extended to Australian wines with a GI. This means Australian producers of low-alcohol wine will continue to be able to market their product as ‘wine’ in the EC market, providing that the wine has an alcohol volume of at least 4.5 per cent. The least trade restrictive provisions in the regulation and agreement will apply to Australian wine, particularly with regard to wines without a GI claiming vintage and variety. This means Australian producers who choose to label their wine without a GI will be able to present the vintage year and variety name on the wine label when selling the product in the EC market. The agreement provides that the two per cent limit on partial de-alcoholisation of wine does not apply to Australian wine. This means Australian producers who choose to remove more than two per cent of a wine’s alcohol content will be able to sell the wine in the EC market, providing they do not reduce the total alcohol content to less than 4.5 per cent.

Finally, it was agreed that the EC amend the regulation which restricted the use of the name of a number of grape varieties in the EC currently used by Australia—including common Italian vine variety names such as sangiovese, on the basis that they contain or evoke GIs—to confirm access in the EC to the relevant grape varieties for Australian winemakers. This means that Australian producers of wines who use these common Italian variety names will be able to sell these wines in the EC market. Agreement to the outcomes was finalised on 23 March 2010. The wine industry has indicated that their concerns have been addressed and industry supports the passage of this legislation and ratification of the agreement.

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