WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/164
10 February 2000
(00-0497)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  French
COMMUNICATION FROM THE OFFICE INTERNATIONAL
DE LA VIGNE ET DU VIN
The following communication was received from the Office International de la Vigne et du
Vin on 1 February 2000.
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Further to your request of 19 November 1999, I am sending you a note describing the changes
contained in the draft agreement for the review of the International Agreement of 29 November 1924for the creation, in Paris, of an Office International du Vin.
While I think that the OIV already fulfils all requirements set up by the WTO for the granting
of observer status, the new improvements of the Draft Agreement should remove all ambiguity
concerning the specific missions and procedures of the OIV.
I have noted that two countries had notified the SPS Committee about projects of regulations
concerning wine (G/SPS/N/ALB/2 and G/SPS/N/THA/19) by indicating that there were no standards,
guidelines or international recommendations in this field.
I feel that this error of appreciation is prejudicial to the vine and wine’s international trade
and obviously demonstrates the need for a greater collaboration between our organizations whichnotably requires the granting of observer status as soon as possible.
You may circulate this letter and its accompanying note in order to ensure better information
of the Members of the Committee.G/SPS/GEN/164
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NOTE
Improvements brought about by the Agreement for the review of the International Agreement of
November 1924, for the creation, in Paris, of an Office International de la Vigne et du Vin
The member States of the OIV initiated, in 1997, a review process in order to undertake the
adaptation of the missions, means in personnel and functioning rules of the OIV.
This procedure, which was carried out by an external Review firm based on the works of an
"ad hoc" review committee gathering 12 representative countries, lead to the development of a draft
agreement for the review of the Agreement of 29 November 1924 for the creation, in Paris, of an
Office International du Vin. The circulation of this text is limited to the member States of the OIV and
is currently being examined by them. It will have to be submitted to the approval of a Conference of
member states convened by the French go vernment at the request of 36 States.
The most notable changes contained in this draft agreement concern the missions, decision-
making procedures of the OIV and its structures.
I. MISSIONS
The precise and clearly-defined missions of Ar ticle 1 of the Agreement of 29 November 1924
were reconsidered within a more general framework which entrusts the OIV with broader missions inits field of competence: the grapevine and its products.
To this end, it is provided that the OIV should assist, in its capacity of reference organization,
the other intergovernmental organizations and contribute to the international harmonization of
existing practices and standards as well as the development of new international standards.  In order toreach these objectives, the OIV  draws up and makes specific recommendations and contributes to
facilitate the mutual recognition of the existing regulations.
It participates in the protection of consumer health through a specialised scientific watch that
enables the characteristics of wines and other vine-related products to be assessed, and by promotingand guiding research on the appropriate nutritional and health-related aspects.
II. DECISION-MAKING PROCEDURE
Since the role of the OIV as an international standardization organization is clearly recognised
in this draft project, contrary to the text of 1924, the OIV has laid down as a principle that consensusshould be the normal decision-making process for the adoption of the proposed resolutions of a
general, scientific, technical, economic or legal scope. The President of the OIV takes all initiatives
for the consultation or co-ordination of member states in order to reach consensus. Qualified majority
voting, i.e. more than two thirds of the weighted  votes of the present or represented members, will
only intervene in last resort.
This provision is similar to the recent amendment adopted in July 1999 by the Commission of
the Codex Alimentarius which provides that "The Commission shall make every effort to reach
agreement on the adoption or amendment of standards by consensus. Decisions to adopt or amend
standards may be taken by voting only if such efforts to reach consensus have failed". However, it
may be noted that in case of a failure in reaching consensus, the OIV has recourse to a two-third
qualified majority voting, whereas the Codex Alimentarius only suggests a simple majority voting.G/SPS/GEN/164
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For the administrative decisions of the OIV, it is provided to have recourse to a qualified
majority voting of two thirds of the weighted voted of members present or represented. For the
election of the President and the Director General, this voting rule is even coupled with a
representativeness rule since at least half of the members present or represented must have expressed
themselves in favour of a candidate.
III. STRUCTURES, MEMBERS AND VOTE
The organization structure remains roughly the same (General Assembly, Executive
Committee, Bureau). The voting structure has been changed in order to ensure an objective
distribution of the weighted votes which no longer depend on the choice of the member country based
on their contribution. Each country has two basic votes to which are added a number of additional
votes calculated on the basis of objective criteria which determine the rank of each country in theworld vitivinicultural sector (production, area, cons umption). This new system avoids the direct link
which previously existed between contributions and voting rights.
Moreover, the draft agreement provides for the possibility of accepting as member any
regional organization of integrated economy, under specific conditions.
Finally, while French remains the reference language, English and Spanish are recognised as
official languages.
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