Non-tariff barriers to the trade in wine on the Canadian market

11.6.2018

Question for written answer E-003140-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Tiziana Beghin (EFDD) , Marco Zullo (EFDD) , Ignazio Corrao (EFDD) , Dario Tamburrano (EFDD) , Isabella Adinolfi (EFDD) , Laura Agea (EFDD) , Marco Valli (EFDD) , Fabio Massimo Castaldo (EFDD) , Rosa D'Amato (EFDD) , Eleonora Evi (EFDD)

Although the EU-Canada CETA Treaty provisionally entered into force in September 2017, European wine producers still face many non-tariff barriers to selling their product overseas.

British Columbia does not allow the sale of foreign wines in supermarkets, while in other cases it requires retailers to clearly separate foreign products from Canadian ones. Similarly, Ontario only permits half of its businesses to sell foreign wine, while many provinces allow only Canadian wine to be sold at local fairs and markets.

Finally, wine producers can avoid a federal tax by using only Canadian grapes, effectively giving domestic producers a competitive advantage.

In the light of the above, can the Commission say:

• 1.Whether the measures introduced by the Canadian provinces and the federal government violate the provisions of the CETA Treaty?
• 2.What it intends to do to remove the barriers to entry encountered by European wine producers?
• 3.How soon European wine producers will be able to obtain the removal of these barriers?