Brussels, 26/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - Several wine-producing Member States, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, refused at Monday's meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) to accept a proposal allowing Australia to use an oenological practice, which is not permitted at Community level, until the end of the year. The Commission's proposal, examined by the SCA, suggests that the country be provisionally allowed to market within the Community wines treated with sawdust and oak shavings (to give them a woody taste and to age them more quickly). The proposal was presented in the interim period before the EU/Australia "wines" agreement gives its conclusions on oenological practices and the protection of various denominations. This procedure, very similar to the one recently adopted by the Council for Argentinean wines and malic acid (see EUROPE of 19 April, p.13), aims to avoid an Australian appeal to the WTO for discriminatory treatment, as certain oenological practices banned in the Community are allowed in some third countries, such as Chile or the United States.
The four delegations mentioned(which have a blocking minority) are opposed to the proposal for the following reasons: - unlike the regulation on malic acid (Argentinean wines), it is not to regularise wines which have already entered Community territory, but wines being exported to the EU; - unlike the case of Argentina, there is already an agreement with Australia on generic denominations, which Australia would be flouting; - the Community granted unilateral concessions benefiting Australia back in 2000 and 2001 on cation exchanger resins (the physical procedure of wine processing), but the third country seems unable to reciprocate on this practice. The delegations also raised a weighty political argument: Australia's position in WTO negotiations on liberalising agricultural trade runs counter to that of the Community. Spain and Luxembourg said that they were against this proposal, but that they would accept it if the addition of sawdust and oak shavings was specifically indicated on the labels of the Australian wines in question. The United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden supported the proposal, as did Germany, whilst pointing out that many concessions had already been made on this subject. The Greek Presidency stated that the dossier would be re-examined by the CSA.
The Commission representative reminded delegations that there had been an agreement on wines with Australia in place since 1994, to which provisions were added in 1999, under which it would drop the use of generic appellations. The Commission stated that the oenological practice in question is illegal for wines produced within the Community, but that the International Wine Organisation (IWO) allows it, as it poses no risk to human health. It stressed that it had never responded favourably to requests to authorise oenological practices considered dangerous to public health, such as the use of hydrogen peroxide.