Brussels, 02/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - Following a new round of negotiations in Ottawa on 23/24 April, the European Commission unveiled to the EU Special Agricultural Committee (SAC) on Monday a draft agreement between the EU and Canada on wines and spirits covering the protection of denominations. Within the CSA, France expressed a fundamental reservation on the level of protection that will be granted to the geographical indications of EU wine and the criteria for marketing European wine in Canada. Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg also expressed reservations about the draft agreement that is now to be submitted to Member States' experts responsible for trade issues (the 133 Committee).
The first draft of the agreement foresees for wines:
The gradual scrapping of the generic use of European denominations by Canada;
Better protection for geographical indications like Bordeaux and Tuscany;
Positive and negative lists of wine producing practices;
Canada respecting EU labelling legislation.
In terms of spirits, the compromise stipulates:
The gradual scrapping of Canada's use of the terms grappa and ouzo;
Canada's recognition of the special conditions for the production of whisky;
Ottawa not being able to challenge the EU's use of words like ruby and vintage for port.
The Commission explained to the CSA delegations the importance of the Canadian market for EU exports.