Brussels, 24/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission could take the case to the WTO once China has imposed provisional anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on wine from the EU.
DG Trade at the Commission is examining the reasons put forward by China as part of its inquiry targeting European wine. China announced the inquiry in response to the EU's imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties against Chinese exports of solar panels.
Beijing reportedly has identified 16 different subsidies in the European wine-growing sector - particularly in the national systems as part of the rural development programme, promotion programmes in third countries and support for wine cellars. Beijing could open a formal inquiry from mid-July and impose further provisional duties two months later. According to a European source close to the file, it is probably at that stage that the Commission could take the case to the WTO.
Meeting in Rome on 18 June, the French and Italian ministers for agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll and Nunzia de Girolamo, re-asserted their “serenity” as regards the outcome of the issue, and were sure that “the possible criticism of China has no validity” (our translation).
Chinese duties on wine are currently 14% on wine in the bottle, 20% on bulk wine, and 65% on aromatised wine. The EU exported wine (2.573 million hectolitres) worth €764 million to China last year. France (1.395 million hectolitres, €546.6 million) is the leading European exporter - ahead of Spain (692,000 hectolitres, €89.2 million) and Italy (326,000 hectolitres, €77 million). (EH/transl.fl)