Over 2,000 representatives from the civil society, academia, business, government, international organisations and the media gathered in Geneva from 10 to 13 September, on the occasion of the WTO Public Forum. spiritsEUROPE was present, proudly joining the delegations of FoodDrinkEurope and the World Spirits Alliance. The focus this year was on “Re-globalisation: better trade for a better world”, providing an opportunity to recall just how essential the WTO had been to development of a growth-generating and fairer rules-based trade environment, and how deeply relevant it still is.
spiritsEUROPE also attended a WTO Public Forum panel sponsored by the World Spirits Alliance (WSA) on how the sectoral “zero-for-zero” spirits tariffs agreements support inclusive and sustainable trade. The panel, which featured representatives from DG TRADE, the UK Mission in Geneva, barrel producers Independent Stave Company and the WSA CEO, examined how the landmark zero-for-zero agreement in spirits first adopted by the US, EU, Japan and Canada has fostered global trade, supported sustainable practices and created jobs worldwide.
The WTO provides an essential safety net for companies trading outside of free trade agreements, a recognition we share with our colleagues from other food and drink sectors and from the WSA. Together, we also stressed the very many concrete benefits provided by the monitoring functions of the WTO, not least the TBT & SPS agreements, which are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. Notifications of draft rules, regulations and standards by WTO members allow us to keep up to date with regulatory changes that affect our spirits producers, big and small, and to support them in their compliance efforts. Notifications also allow traders like us to assess the impact of proposed measures before they are adopted and to provide recommendations and feedback grounded in practical experience, via our respective WTO members. This contributes to better policy making and minimisation of trade disruptions.
Reform of the WTO, and particularly of the dispute settlement system, also featured high in the conversations this year. Spirits have been both beneficiaries and victims of dispute settlement – benefitting from a robust enforcement of common rules, but too often caught in the crossfire in unrelated disputes. We stressed the need to restore the dispute settlement system as soon as possible and to reconsider the issue of compensation through unrelated sectors as part of the reform.
Last but not least, we continued to raise awareness about the dangers of illicit trade and the root factors behind it, highlighting the role that restrictions, inadequate standards and taxation levels, as well as poor enforcement and penalties, play in this issue. We praised the WTO Secretariat for their recent report on illicit trade in food and food fraud and shared concrete suggestions on how to take up its recommendations at both global, regional and national levels.
