WTO: Canada and Australia reach agreement on wine case

The World Trade Organization (WTO) released a report on Tuesday on the agreement reached by Canada and Australia in a wine case.

Australia initially claimed that a number of distribution, licensing and sales measures, such as product margins, market access and listing policies, as well as duties and taxes on goods, Wine applied at the federal and provincial levels, appear to discriminate against imported wine, thereby violating the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 of the WTO.

As of May 12, both countries notified the Dispute Settlement Body that they had reached a mutually agreed solution to the dispute, in accordance with the provisions of Article 3.6 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU).

Pursuant to Article 12.7 of the DSU, the WTO Panel Report does not contain substantive findings, but rather provides a brief account of the case, indicating that a solution has been reached.

On 12 April 2019, Australia informed the Panel that Australia and Canada had reached an agreement regarding measures governing the sale of wine in grocery stores in the province of British Columbia.

Then, on July 3, 2020, the two nations informed the Panel that they had reached “a mutually agreed solution in relation to the claims made by Australia regarding the federal excise tax exemption and the Emerging Wine Regions Policy. of Nova Scotia”.

WTO

Subsequently, on 22 July 2020, Australia and Canada informed the Panel that they had reached “a mutually agreed solution in relation to the claims made by Australia with respect to the Ontario measures at issue relating to the sale of wine. ”.

On February 8, 2021 and April 8, 2021, the Panel informed the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) that it had accepted several requests submitted by the parties to delay the issuance of its interim report in order to that the parties could find a mutually agreed solution.

On 22 April 2021, Australia and Canada informed the Panel that they had reached «a mutually agreed solution in relation to the claims made by Australia with respect to the Quebec measures at issue relating to the sale of wine.»

The parties considered that, as a result of that agreement, the issues raised in this dispute had been resolved.

In a letter dated 12 May 2021, the parties notified the DSB that they had reached a mutually agreed solution.