Australian wine industry turns to WTO to settle row over Canadian protectionism
The Australian government has turned to the World Trade Organisation in an attempt to end Canada’s discrimination against imported wine, and to level the playing field.
The Winemakers Federation of Australia (WFA) chief executive Tony Battaglene said the action is the first formal step in attempting to overturn the long-standing Canadian policy that discriminates against Australian wine imports which amount to around $190m a year.
Trade minister SteveCiobo initiated the WTO proceedings after bilateral disussions with Canada broke down.
Wine sales in Canada are controlled by provincial liquor boards which in recent years have introduced a number of measures which discriminate in favour of locally produced wines. The WFA believes that these impose “arbitrary and disadvantageous restrictions on the sale of imported wine in Canadian grocery stores, inconsistent with Canada’s WTO obligations,”.
Some of the most discriminatory measures include Canada’s imposition of additional taxes, fees and mark ups on imported wine, and restricting the sale of imports in grocery stores – and in British Colombia foreign wine sales are actually banned. There is also a separate distribution channel reserved exclusively for Canadan wine.
‘We respect the Canadian wine industry, but we are seeking a level playing field to ensure we can maximize our opportunities in this key market,” said Battaglene.
Australia is the fifth ranked country of origin, and commands a 10% total volume share of the Canadian wine market after wines from the US, Canada, Italy and France.
In January last year the US launched its own WTO trade dispute settlement action against Canada, which Australia joined as a third party observer. The new action taken by the Australians addresses those same issues as well as others across the Canadian provinces.
The last time Asutralia initiated formal WTO was in 2003 when it successfully argued that the EU had breached international tarde rules. Ciobo said WTO action would ensure that the Australian wine industry would be protected.
“Canada’s wine market is worth approximately $7billion,” he said. ‘These measures are impacting on Australia’s ability to better access this market.”