On May 25, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy held an offsite roundtable discussion on Topical issues of legislative regulation of viticulture and winemaking in Ukraine in the process of European integration” at the SHABO Wine Culture Centre.
Oleksandr Haidu, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy, welcomed the participants.
During the speeches, it was noted that due to the status of an EU candidate country, Ukraine is on the verge of both new challenges and new opportunities, and this also applies to the viticulture and wine industry.
On the way to European integration, the industry has faced problems that slow down the export of wine products to global markets, namely:
- Ukraine has no register of grape and wine producers and no cadastre of vineyards;
- there are no official data and statistics on the number or size of agricultural or farm enterprises and households producing grapes.
This makes it impossible to carry out traceability from the vine to the bottle of wine on the store shelf, as the European Commission also pointed out in its latest analytical report.
In addition, the roundtable participants drew attention to the reduction in the production of grape planting material; difficulties in obtaining long-term leases of land plots; low purchase prices for technical grapes, as well as the fact that some vineyard areas are under occupation.
The Committee's Chairman, Oleksandr Haidu, noted that the industry also faces problems with the prevalence of imported wine products over domestic ones on the Ukrainian wine market; unjustifiably low minimum retail prices for wines and unregulated use of geographical indications on the Ukrainian consumer market. The lack of systematic control over the quality and safety of wine products has a particularly negative impact on the culture of wine consumption.
The Chairman of the Committee also drew the attention of the roundtable participants to the fruitful work of the Committee on the draft Law on Grapes and Viticultural Products, Reg. № 9139. After all, during the preparation of this draft law for the second reading on the future of Ukrainian wine, the new Regulation 2024/1143 of 11 April 2024 on geographical indications for wine, spirits and agricultural products and guaranteed traditional characteristics, amending three EU acts (No. 1308/2013, (EU) 2019/787 and (EU) 2019/1753) and repealing Regulation No. 1151/2012, entered into force in the European Union. Therefore, the Committee is preparing appropriate amendments to this draft law to ensure its compliance with European legislation.
At the same time, as part of the offsite roundtable, the members of the Committee had the opportunity to inspect the vineyards and production facilities of the SHABO wine and grape enterprise, where about 4 million elite vines and more than 20 grape varieties are grown on an area of more than 1200 hectares.
The Committee is grateful to all the participants of the event for their participation in the roundtable, constructive discussion of the problematic issues and proposals on ways to resolve them, which will facilitate the early consideration of the draft law on wine at the Committee's meeting.