Notable Policy Developments Around the World – 05 February 2020

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

We share below a number of recent developments. As always, we rely on FIVS Members to apprise us of noteworthy matters. Please contact the FIVS Secretariat with items that may be of interest.

• Labelling
  • Codex Alimentarius – FIVS Comments on Food Labeling: FIVS recently submitted the following comments to Codex Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL) on food labelling matters involving innovation and technology. FIVS would like to thank FIVS members for their comments on the draft submission.
• Taxation
  • Brazil – Alcohol as a Sin Product: Brazil’s Economy Minister has reportedly called for a study on the implementation of a new tax applied to alcohol beverages, cigarettes, and such foods as chocolates, ice cream, and soft drinks. He noted that these taxes have been called “sin taxes” by academics, because they encourage people to consume less of products that may cause ill health effects. The inclusion of products with sugar is apparently a novelty although other countries have reportedly adopted sugar product taxes.
    • While traveling in India, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro reportedly reacted to this report, telling reporters that he opposed increasing taxes on alcohol and sugar products while adding that he supports his Minister of Economy.
  • Canada – The Carcinogenic Effect: A study from the Universities of Toronto and Victoria reportedly found that people are nearly two times more likely to support raising the price of alcohol beverages after learning that alcohol consumption may cause cancer. Researchers noted that regulations that increase the price of alcohol, although currently unpopular among Canadians, would attract more support if Canadians were made aware of alcohol-related harms to health through warning labels and other tools. The report suggests that pricing increases offer the strongest mechanism for reducing alcohol consumption.
• Trade
  • EU- U.S. – Trying to Get the Tariffs Back Down: Spirits Europe and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) reportedly met recently in Brussels, Belgium with European Union (EU) and U.S. officials to express concern about damage resulting from tariffs imposed on spirits and to urge a return to tariff-free transatlantic trade. Since a “zero for zero” agreement ending nearly all tariffs on spirits was reached in 1997, trade in that sector between the United States and Europe has grown by 450%. The associations urged the European Commission to remove tariffs on U.S. whiskey and to exclude U.S. spirits from the final retaliation list related to the Boeing dispute, while urging the U.S. Trade Representative to remove tariffs on imported EU spirits. DISCUS analysts predict that 78,600 jobs will be lost in the United States if the tariffs are not removed.
    • These pieces detail the latest on the extent to which the trade is struggling with the higher tariffs.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

• Climate Change’s Impact on Wine Growing Land: A computer model reportedly shows that 56% and 85%, respectively, of wine-growing land will become unviable with a global warming of 2 and 4 degrees Celsius. Researchers from the Universities of Alcalá in Spain and of British Columbia at Vancouver, however, found that replacing varieties with more climatically suitable varieties could result in losses cut in half at 2 degrees warming and cut in third at 4 degrees warming. They also suggest other solutions such as moving vineyards to higher ground. The researchers’ model shows that Germany, northern Europe, and the Pacific Northwest of the United States could benefit from warming.
  • Within the last 20 years, Cognac producers have reportedly been facing unprecedented circumstances seemingly brought on by climate change. This piece discusses how they are addressing the challenges.

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY