Prosecco

Australia – EU FTA negotiations

The time has never been more important for your engagement on this issue.

You may have seen on 13 August, that the Australian Government published the process and European Union’s (EU) list of GIs for public objection as part of the Australia –EU FTA negotiations.

You’ll note that as part of this process wine GIs have been excluded due to the pre-existing wine GI framework and the Australia-EU Agreement on wine. However the government notice also notes that the EU has specifically sought protection for the terms “Prosecco” and “Vittoria” as European GIs.

Even though the notice suggests that the Government recognises submissions which have previously been provided on Prosecco (and Australian Grape and Wine has provided multiple) there is value is reinforcing the messages around the grape variety. We are aware of much Australian Government activity around Prosecco at the moment and have been advised that it would be in our best interests to highlight the extent of our sectors concerns within this process. 

Australian Grape & Wine has since lodged an extensive submission outlining the key areas of concern and proposing a reasonable solution which protects our producer’s rights to the grape variety. We now need the engagement to come from prosecco producers and are seeking submissions from all Australian Prosecco producers and those with interest in the variety.

Please contact damein@agw.org.au if you are a Prosecco producer and are interested in engaging to help protect our rights to produce Prosecco.

During September Australian Grape & Wine will hold key meetings with some of the major players in the Prosecco GI debate including: The Consortium on Common Food Names, The Prosecco Consortium, European Union and Australian government ministers and departmental experts.

Singapore

Further to our previous update on the registration of Prosecco in Singapore, Australian Grape & Wine last week, lodged over 300pages of evidence with our Singapore based law firm in support of our opposition. Thank you to all the producers who supplied evidence for this opposition.