2007 Agreement on Requirements for Wine Labelling (Labelling Agreement)
The Labelling Agreement enables wine exporters to sell wine into WWTG markets without having to redesign all of their labels for each individual market. Under the Labelling Agreement, the WWTG participants have agreed to a ”single field of vision” approach to wine labelling, whereby four key common items of information (country of origin, product name, net contents, and alcohol content) are deemed to comply with domestic labelling requirements if they are presented together in any single field of vision on the container. In early 2013, phase two of the Labelling Agreement was concluded through the Protocol to the Agreement on Requirements for Wine Labelling. This extends the earlier Agreement on Labelling by providing for a degree of harmonisation of rules regarding alcohol tolerance, variety, wine region and vintage.
The Labelling Agreement means that consumers are able to easily locate important items of information on the bottle in a single field of vision, allowing ease in the comparison of different wines. In addition, the Agreement benefits producers and suppliers by reducing the costs of production, application, warehousing, and label usage. Gains can be made from economies of scale, and savings achieved from label printing costs, and production line costs (because of fewer stoppages).
These principles set a positive benchmark in wine labelling, promoting clarity and consistency in information shown across different markets. These principles could provide the basis for a global standard if adopted by sufficient international bodies and countries – given that Codex Alimentarius Commission does not have an international standard for wine labelling.
Download a PDF of the Labelling Agreement in English, Spanish, and French
Related Information:
Download a PDF of the Initialing Labelling Agreement in English