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Agriculture and rural development
News article9 March 2023BrusselsDirectorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development

Modernised EU-Chile agreements on wines and spirits to facilitate trade

UE-Chile wine and spirits

Today, the modernised EU-Chile agreements on wines and on spirits  and aromatized wines enter into force enhancing bilateral trade of these products playing a key role for agricultural trade for both parties. The agreements’ main achievement is a comprehensive and updated protection of wines and spirits’ names in two of the world’s leading wine-making regions, but also keeping wine-making practices and certification of each party compatible to facilitate trade. In total, 405 wine, 105 spirit drinks and 1 aromatised wine terms from the EU were added or modified through the update.

The agreements now include 1 573 wines and 235 spirit drinks and aromatised wines from the EU and 115 wines, and 10 spirit drinks and aromatised wines from Chile that will benefit from reciprocal protection.  For example, products from Croatia, the last acceding Member State will now be part of the agreements. Such modernization is happening while both parties have started the process for the future entry into force of the EU-Chile Advanced Framework Agreement.

The original agreements on wines and spirits were signed by the EU and Chile in 2002. They were established to ensure a high level of protection for EU and Chilean wines and spirits in each other’s respective markets. The agreements’ update, which today entered into force, will make it  speedier to amend it in the future, to better reflect the changes of protected terms of wines, aromatised wines and spirits in Chile and in the EU.

Keeping their terms protected is of major importance for Chile and the EU as leading wine exporters. The EU and Chile are among the world’s top-ten wine producers and exporters with France (1st), Italy (2nd), Spain (3rd), Chile (4th), Germany (8th) and Portugal (9th) ranking in the top ten of global wine exporters in terms of value. The agreement protects new wine terms from the EU, such as “Avola” from Italy, “Dealu Mare” from Romania and “Dalmatinska Zagora” from Croatia in Chile. Famous Chilean wines, such as “Cartagena”, “Santo Domingo” or “Valle de Osorno” are also protected in the EU. Wines and spirits make up for about 17% of Chilean agricultural exports to the EU and for about 5% of EU agricultural exports to Chile in value.

The updated wines and spirits’ agreements marks the latest decision to promote further rules-based trade between the EU and Chile following the election of the new government in Chile and the conclusion of negotiations to modernise the existing EU-Chile trade agreement. Trade between Chile and the EU will be further facilitated once the EU-Chile Advanced Framework Agreement, concluded on 9th December, will enter into force.

Related links

Agri-food trade between the EU and Chile

Details

Publication date
9 March 2023
Author
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Location
Brussels