The European wine industry welcomes the support of the European Parliament’s INTA Committee to the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)

Brussels, 5 November 2018 – Today the members of the INTA Committee of the European Parliament gave green light to the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. The European wine industry welcomes the INTA vote and calls MEPs to provide their consent in plenary for a swift implementation of the agreement.

Japan is the 5th export market for EU wines. The European wine industry expresses its strong support in favour of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and calls on the European Parliament to ensure a speedy ratification process.

“The INTA vote is very good news for EU wine companies. Business expectations are high as this agreement will remove long-standing tariff and non-tariff barriers to wine trade and will generate new opportunities in such a strategic market”’ said Jean-Marie Barillère, President of CEEV.

The European Parliament must give its consent before the agreement can be provisionally implemented. To ensure that wine companies benefit from this agreement as soon as possible, CEEV urges the European Parliament to take the next step and support the agreement during the December plenary sitting.

“Implementing the agreement as from early 2019 is critical. In a context of extreme worldwide competition, we are looking forward to the entry into force of the EPA to regain lost market share. We call on the European Parliament to accomplish the assent procedure without delay”, said Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, Secretary General of CEEV.

— END—