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The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation assembled in Congress, etc. sanction with force of Law:
ARTICLE 1o . Approved the Agreement on the Mutual ACEPTATION of ENOLOGICAL PRACTICES, made in Toronto .CANADA . on 18 December 2001, which consists of TRECE (13) articles and UN (1) annex, whose authenticated photocopy is part of this law. ARTICLE 2or . Contact the national executive branch.IN THE SESSION OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN GOOD AIRES, TO THE TWENTY DAYS OF THE NUMBER OF THE YEAR DOS MIL CUATRO.
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EDUARDO O. CHANGE. A. GUINLE. . Eduardo D. Rollano. . Juan Estrada.
AGREEMENT ON THE MUTUAL ACEPTATION OF ENOLOGICAL PRACTICES
The Parties to this Agreement,
HIS SBI to facilitate international trade and prevent the application of barriers to wine trade under the Marrakech Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization of 15 April 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the WTO Agreement); YOUR INTEREST to regulate the wine produced and consumed in their respective territories; THAT THEY'VE FIND assessments of the laws, regulations and requirements of each Party, relating to the enological practices required by their respective national laws; YOUR INTEREST fundamental and legitimate in regulating the health and safety issues of imported wine to their respective territories; YOUR INTEREST to avoid misleading practices on the label; AND RECOGNIZING what:restrictions on imports based on enological practices have been used as obstacles to international trade;
In many countries, enological practices are subject to laws, regulations and requirements in the territories of the Parties and that uniform enological practices cannot take into account all local conditions, climatic variations and traditions;
Each Party has established acceptable mechanisms for regulating enological practices;
the cultivation of grapes and oenological practices will continue to evolve;
ACUERDAN the following:ARTICLE 1
Objective
The objectives of this Agreement are:
(a) To facilitate wine trade among Parties; and
(b) To avoid, under the WTO Agreement, the application of obstacles to such trade,
by mutual acceptance by the Parties of their respective mechanisms for regulating enological practices, as established by their respective laws, regulations and requirements.
ARTICLE 2
Multilateral obligations
Nothing in this Agreement shall limit the rights and obligations of Parties acquired under the WTO Agreement.
ARTICLE 3
Scope
1. This Agreement shall be limited to international wine trade, as defined in Article 4 (a) of this Agreement.
2. Nothing in this Agreement shall in any way prevent a Party from taking measures, including but not limited, to the control of the protection of human health and security, provided that such measures are in conformity with the provisions of the WTO Agreement.
3. Nothing in this Agreement shall impose trade obligations on any entity with respect to the purchase and sale of the products covered by this Agreement.
4. Nothing in this Agreement intends to interfere with the provisions of a Party ' s existing agreements or to prevent the Parties, individually or collectively, from signing agreements relating to enological practices with third countries.
5. Nothing in this Agreement shall require a Party to revoke, repeal or amend its definition of wine or its laws, regulations and requirements relating to the enological practices for the production of wine in its territory.
ARTICLE 4
Definitions
For the purposes of this Agreement, the following definitions apply:
a) "Vino" is a drink produced by the complete or partial alcoholic fermentation exclusively of fresh grapes, must or products derived from fresh grapes, according to the enological practices which are authorized by the regulatory mechanisms of the exporting Party, and whose alcohol content is not less than 7% and not more than 24% per volumetric unit.
(b) "Enological practices" refer to the materials, processes, treatments and techniques of wine production, permitted by law in the exporting Party, but excludes labelling, bottling or packaging for the final sale; and
c) "Consensus" is achieved when, after the notice provided for in the proceedings of the Council, no Party, present at the meeting at which a decision is formally taken, objects to the proposed decision.
ARTICLE 5
Mutual acceptance of enological practices
1. Each Party shall accept the laws, regulations and requirements of the other Parties relating to the enological practices and the mechanisms governing them.
2. The Parties shall permit the importation of wine produced in the territory of another Party, in accordance with the laws, regulations and requirements of that Party relating to the enological practices and the mechanisms governing them.
3. Wine exported by one Party to another Party shall comply with the laws, regulations and requirements of the exporting Party relating to the enological practices governing wine destined for the national consumption of the exporting Party. The exporting Party, if it so wishes, may also export to an importing Party wine produced in compliance with the laws, regulations and requirements relating to the enological practices governing wine destined for the domestic consumption of the importing Party.
4. None of the Parties shall require any other Party requesting a derogation or other exonerations or to provide routine certifications relating to any enological practice, except where a Party may require it under Article 3 (2).
5. Where a Party has reason to believe that a wine produced, exported or imported into its territory may compromise human health or safety, that Party shall immediately notify all other Parties through a procedure to be determined by the Council.
ARTICLE 6
Tagged wine governed by this Agreement
1. The technical regulations and standards of labelling shall be transparent and non-discriminatory, and shall conform to the WTO Agreement, and in particular the Agreement on the Implementation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and shall not be used as a mechanism to frustrate the objective and purpose of this Agreement.
2. The Parties shall initiate negotiations for a tagging agreement, aimed at concluding that Agreement within one calendar year from the date on which this Agreement has entered into force.
ARTICLE 7
Administration of this Agreement
1. To administer this Agreement, a Council of the Parties is hereby formed, in which all Parties are equally represented. All decisions of the Council shall be taken by consensus. The Council shall determine its own rules and procedures.
2. The Council may consider any matter related to the effective functioning of this Agreement. In particular, he will be responsible for:
(a) To seek to resolve any issues related to the implementation of this Agreement;
(b) To provide a forum for discussion on issues that may arise when this Agreement is implemented;
(c) Consider different ways of improving the functioning of this Agreement;
(d) To adopt amendments to this Agreement and its annex, in accordance with Article 10.
(e) To determine the working languages under this Agreement; and
(f) Decide on requests for accession to this Agreement by States, in accordance with Article 13(2).
ARTICLE 8
Transparency
1. The laws, regulations and requirements relating to the enological practices and the mechanisms governing them of the States referred to in Article 12 (1) on the date of entry into force of this Agreement for each Party shall be incorporated into an Appendix.
2. Based on the decision of the Council, referred to in Article 13(2) to agree to the accession of a State to this Agreement, the laws, regulations and requirements relating to the enological practices and the mechanisms governing them of that State, as submitted to the Council under Article 13 (1), shall be incorporated into the Appendix.
3. Any modification of the laws, regulations or requirements of a Party relating to the enological practices and the mechanisms governing them shall:
(a) to be published or communicated in a compatible manner and in accordance with the WTO Agreement and to the extent stipulated in the WTO Agreement and, in particular, the Agreement on the Implementation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, and
(b) be incorporated into the Appendix.
4. Each Party, in a compatible manner and in accordance with the WTO Agreement and to the extent stipulated in that Agreement and, in particular, the Agreement on the Implementation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, shall notify the Council of any proposal to amend its laws, regulations or requirements relating to the enological practices and the mechanisms governing them, prior to such an amendment to take effect in its territory and to provide the comments of other Parties.
ARTICLE 9
Consultations and settlement of disputes
1. If one or more Parties finds that a measure taken by one or more Parties is incompatible with this Agreement, the Party or Parties (the Claimant) may, in writing, request consultations with the other Party or Parties (the Respondent). Parties to the conflict shall, within 20 days of receipt of the request, consult with a view to resolving the matter.
2. If the matter is not resolved through consultations within 45 days of receipt of the request for consultations, and imports have been banned or restricted, any of the Parties to the conflict may, in writing, request the other Party to the conflict and the President of the Council to establish a Committee of Experts to consider the matter, in accordance with the procedures prescribed in the Annex. Any conclusion adopted by the Committee should be by consensus.
3. After requesting a Committee of Experts and that the Committee had been formed to hear the dispute, the Respondent should submit its views in writing (the demand) to the President of the Council and the Respondent. Within 30 days of receipt of the claim, the Respondent shall send his reply to the President of the Council and the Respondent, together with the evidence and documentation supporting his response.
4. The Committee of Experts shall refer its findings to the Parties to the conflict within 60 days of the date on which the Committee of Experts received the documents of the Respondent, as set out in paragraph 3 of this Article or at the expiration of the time limit on which such documents are to be submitted pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Article.
5. In the event that the Committee of Experts finds that the Respondent has violated this Agreement, the Committee shall provide in its decision a reasonable period of time for the Respondent to rectify such violation. The established deadline will be the shortest and most feasible, within reasonableness. If the Parties to the conflict do not agree on the date of expiry of that period when the violation has been rectified, the Respondent may in writing give the expert chairing the Committee and the Respondent proof of non-compliance and request the Committee to decide whether the violation has been rectified. The Respondent will have 21 days from the date of receipt of the Claimant's request addressed to the presiding expert to respond to the Claimant's claims. The Committee shall issue its decision within 15 days of the expiry of the Respondent ' s response.
6. If the Committee finds that the Respondent has not rectified such violation within the assigned time limit, the Respondent may suspend its obligations under Article 5, paragraphs 1 to 4, of this Agreement.
7. Under this Article, the Parties to the conflict may agree, for the purpose of a specific conflict, to follow different procedures to those set forth in this Article in order to accelerate, improve or facilitate the resolution of a specific conflict.
8. Paragraphs 2 to 6 of this Article shall not apply to matters arising under Article 3 (2) of this Agreement or to any other matter under this Agreement that may also raise issues under the WTO. Nothing in this Article shall be construed as implying a change in the rights and obligations of a Party under the WTO Agreement, including the dispute settlement provisions of that Agreement.
ARTICLE 10
Amendment
1. Any Party may propose amendments to this Agreement or its Annex. The text of any proposed amendment shall be submitted to the depositary, which shall promptly notify all Parties, at least ninety days in advance of the date on which it shall be considered by the Council.
2. The initial consideration of any proposed amendment should take place at the first meeting of the Council following the notice of the proposed amendment. The Council should adopt the amendments by consensus.
3. Instruments of acceptance of an amendment should be placed in the possession of the depositary. An amendment shall enter into force for Parties that have accepted it on the thirtieth day following the date of receipt by the depositary of the instruments of acceptance of a majority of the Parties. From then on, it shall enter into force for each Party depositing its instrument of acceptance on the thirtieth day following the receipt by the depositary of the instrument of acceptance of that Party. Each State adhering to this Agreement after the entry into force of any amendment shall become a Party to the Agreement, as amended.
ARTICLE 11
Complaint
Any Party may denounce this Agreement by informing the depositary in writing. The withdrawal shall enter into force six months after the date of receipt of the notification, unless such notification specifies a later date or the notification is withdrawn before that date.
ARTICLE 12
Parties and entry into force
1. This Agreement will be available for signature by Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States of America, until 31 March 2002.
2. This Agreement is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by signatory States. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval should be placed in the possession of the depositary.
3. This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date of deposit of the second instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval. For each of the signatory States that sign from then on shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date on which their instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval has been deposited.
4. A signatory State that has not delivered an instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval within thirty months from the date on which this Agreement enters into force or the additional period approved by the Council shall be regarded as a State that has not signed this Agreement.
ARTICLE 13
New Parties
1. Any State that has not signed this Agreement, and the States that have signed but not ratified, accepted or approved this Agreement, under Article 12, may in writing request the depositary to accede to it. Such a request shall include a copy of the laws, regulations and requirements of that State relating to the enological practices and the mechanisms governing them.
2. The Council, at its first meeting following the receipt of such a request, shall evaluate the laws, regulations and requirements relating to the enological practices and the mechanisms governing them of the State concerned. If the Council considers them acceptable, it shall notify the State of its decision and may invite it to accede to this Agreement.
3. After receiving notification of the Council ' s decision for accession, but in no case after 30 months from that date or such period approved by the Council, the State concerned shall place its instrument of accession to the depositary. For that State, this Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date on which it deposited its instrument of accession.
The original of this Agreement, of which the English, French and Spanish texts are equally authentic, will be put into power by the Government of the United States of America.
IN FAITH OF ANYTHINGsubscribers, duly authorized by their respective Governments, sign this Agreement. HEW in Toronto, December 18, year two thousand one.Annex
Committee of Experts
1. The Parties shall establish a list of experts in enological practices.
2. Each Party shall designate four experts to integrate the roster, who shall be nationals of the Parties.
3. The depositary shall keep the list of experts.
4. The Parties to the conflict shall agree to select three experts from the list, none of which shall come from the countries of those Parties. In the event that the Parties to the conflict cannot reach an agreement within 15 days from the date of the request for the formation of a Committee of Experts made to the President of the Council, the President of the Council shall select three experts from the list at random, none of which may come from the countries of the Parties to the conflict. The President of the Council shall make such a random selection in the presence of the official representatives designated by the Parties to the conflict.
5. When the President of the Council receives all documents of the Respondent and the Respondent, under Article 9 of this Agreement, the President shall transmit such documents to the experts appointed by the Parties to the conflict within three days. If one of the experts is not available, the Party or Parties concerned or the President of the Council shall appoint a substitute, in accordance with the procedures set out in paragraph 4 above.
6. The Committee will use the telephone and electronic communications system as much as possible.
7. Parties to the conflict shall assume the respective costs and expenses incurred in relation to the proceedings before the Committee of Experts. The fees and expenses of the experts shall be paid equally by the Parties to the conflict.
8. The Council shall adopt the rules of procedure to be applied to the Committee of Experts established under Article 9 of this Agreement and this Annex.
