Trade and Market Access

WFA works with Wine Australia to reduce international trade barriers and assist the industry with market access issues. We monitor trade developments, negotiate arrangements to improve market access and streamline importing requirements, advise  Australian Government departments, build relationships with regulators in key export markets and provide a response capability in the event of adverse developments.

Many activities are pre-competitive, requiring collaborative international action with benefits accruing to the whole Australian wine industry. They include:

• ensuring Australia’s competitiveness and the integrity of its wine are not compromised by inappropriate government policy and/or regulation
• promoting free trade without subsidies and the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers for wine
• ensuring international standards are set on the basis of sound science and not used as an impediment to trade
• maintaining the integrity of the current multilateral trade agreements under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation.

In addition, WFA’s Technical Committee provides technical input into international fora, including the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the OIV, assesses technical requirements of trading partners, and provides advice to WFA on liberalising these requirements.