More than 80 wine regulators and wine industry representatives from 17 Pacific Rim economies met in Adelaide, Australia, to work toward streamlining import-export requirements for wine.

The two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Wine Regulatory Forum’s 2015 technical meeting focused on eliminating duplicative regulations to reduce the costs of cross-border wine trade, stimulate demand and increase wine exports to the region.

The initiatives advanced in Adelaide will significantly improve trade prospects across the region and deliver substantial savings to grape growers and winemakers, Tony Battaglene, Winemakers’ Federation of Australia strategy and international affairs general manager, says in a statement. APEC region requirements vary from country to country and can be cost prohibitive for winemakers, he said, and the forum works to assist developing countries with implementing sound, science-based regulations.

Among the issues discussed:
• Harmonizing maximum residue limits set for pesticides used on wine grapes.
• Increasing the efficiency of laboratory analytical testing.
• Advancing international principles for nations to use when establishing wine regulations.
• Developing a model wine export certificate that can be used in any APEC economy requiring certification.

The 17 APEC economies represented at the meeting were Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong China, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States and Vietnam. In addition, representatives of Argentina and South Africa participated in the meeting as observers.

The group next meets in Ottawa, Ontario, in October 2016. For more information on the group, visit http://wineregulatoryforum.blogspot.com.au

– by Shannon Dininny