Following a meeting of agriculture ministers, it has been announced that the EU and South Africa have reached agreement on the names of drinks products.
As a result, after a transition period South African companies will cease to use names such as Porto, Champagne, Ouzo, Chianti, Sherry or Mosel on products. The deal involves the mutual acceptance by both the EU and South Africa of each region's winemaking practices.
As part of the deal, the EU has agreed to raise its quota for tax free imports from 320,000 hls to 420,000 hls and will also provide some €15m of aid to help restructure the South African wine and spirits industry. South Africa's wine exports to Europe reached some €201m (US$180m) in 1999, 19 times the value of EU wine exports to South Africa.
