Brussels, 04/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is preparing to authorise Argentina to market on Community territory until 30 September wines having undergone specific treatment with malic acid. Indeed, the Special Agricultural Committee (SAC) noted on Monday the existence of a qualified majority in favour of the proposal.. The Council should approve the text on 20 February. This decision only brings forward the EU/Argentina agreement on wine that should soon be concluded.
Treatment with malic acid is a practice in the wine industry that is no longer authorised for Community wine. This procedure is, however, allowed for wine from third countries in commercial framework-agreements (EU/Chile, EU/United states). Authorisation, which is said to be retroactive, would allow for a settlement of the problem of Argentinean wines treated in this manner blocked by Germany since 2002.
At the meeting of the SAC, only Italy expressed a substantive reservation to the text. The delegations of producer Member States asked for the provisions of the international Wine Organisation to be taken into account and that it be clearly stipulated that the authorisation only covers Argentinean wine currently imported into the EU.