EU rosé wine reforms delayed by WTO
April 7, 2009
By Graham Tearse
The EU Commission has announced a delay in the adoption of its reforms to winemaking regulations, including the controversial allowance for table rosés to be made from mixing whites with reds, after the World Trade Organization requested more time to scrutinize the changes.
Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel said the delay was strictly to allow the WTO longer consultation, and dismissed a suggestion by French agriculture minister Michel Barnier, who is opposed to the new rosé rules, that it allowed 'time for dialogue'.
'She told him in a phone call on Monday that she will not reopen the package on winemaking practices,' Commission spokesman Johan Reyniers told decanter.com.
The EU wine reform management committee was originally due to vote upon the proposed regulations on April 27th but will now meet on June 19th, conditional to WTO approval in May.
If, as expected, the committee then approves the measures by qualified majority, the new regulations will become law on August 1st.
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