spiritsNEWS May 2020

Enhorabuena, it’s a deal! The revamped EU-Mexico trade agreement has been finalized

On 28 April, in the middle of the COVID crisis, the European Commission announced the conclusion of a new trade agreement with Mexico which will include the EU-Mexico Spirits Agreement adopted in 1997.

The full integration of the Spirits Agreement into the modernised trade pact offers tangible benefits such as the mutual recognition and protection of designations for spirit drinks. The list of protected names has been updated with the insertion of new terms from both sides. It brings the number of EU spirits geographical indications protected in Mexico to 232 and 6 Mexican spirits geographical indications protected in the EU. The agreement was originally made in 1997 and amended in 2004 to take into account the enlargement of the EU as well as new Mexican spirits Geographical Indications.  

The sectoral annex on Trade in Wine and Spirits has been included in the Chapter on “Trade In Goods”. It covers issues related to certification labelling and creates a Sub-Committee on trade in wines and spirits and cooperation. After Mercosur, this is the second trade agreement including such an Annex providing a very good template for future negotiations.

More generally, the renegotiated EU-Mexico trade pact covers tariffs on goods more extensively than before, services, labour and environmental requirements, anti-corruption commitments, stronger intellectual property and geographical indications protection, and a bilateral investment protection court.

The EU and Mexico started the negotiations for a new, modernised agreement in May 2016, reached an agreement in principle in April 2018, and the final outstanding technical issues were solved at the end of April 2020. Once the legal scrubbing completed, the final text will be sent for ratification by the Council and the European Parliament. We will raise our voice clear and loud in favour of this ratification!

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