G/TBT/W/643  
 
2 July 2019  
(19-4421) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
URUGUAY - ANALYSIS O F IMPORTED PRODUCTS - RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF  
THE NATIONAL GRAPE -GROWING AND WINE PROD UCTION INSTITUTE (IN AVI)  
OF 14  FEBRUARY 2019. RESOL UTION OF THE BOARD O F INAVI POSTPONING 
IMPLEMENTATION UNTIL  1 MAY 2019) - EXOGE NOUS WATER IN WINE  
STATEMENT BY SOUTH AFRIC A TO THE COMMITTEE O N TECHNICAL BARRIERS  TO TRADE  
20 AND 21 JUNE 2019  
The following communication, dated 2 July 2019, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of South Afric a. 
_______________  
1.  South Africa provided c omments on Uruguay's notifications G/TBT/N/URY/27  of 14 March 2019, 
and G/TBT/N/URY/27/Rev.1  of 25 March 2019. We thank Uruguay for thei r response of 13 May 2019 
on our comments.  
2.  South Africa still has various concerns with Uruguay's regulation regarding exogenous water.  
3.   In the notified regulation, there is no tolerance or admissibility percentage of exogenous water 
in the produce indicat ed. This means that any exogenous water, whether through permitted 
oenological practices, such as additives or the accidental addition through filtration and wine transfer 
will be prohibited.  
4.  Although South African regulation does not allow the dilution of  wine with water, it however, 
permits various oenological practices such as Bentonite swelling, yeast rehydration, malolactic 
bacteria rehydration, isinglass preparation, concentrated grape must addition, enzyme activation 
etcetera, that need to be dissolv ed or activated in water. Similar oenological practices are permitted 
by many other wine producing countries.  
5.  It would be helpful if Uruguay could please provide a definition for the term "exogenous water" 
as used in Uruguay's Resolution. Clarity is also r equired whether Uruguay considers irrigation water 
used in the cultivation of grapes as "exogenous" water?  
6.  We understand that certification will only be required for products imported into Uruguay from 
countries whose legislation accepts the presence of "exogenous water" . Will Uruguay compile a list 
of these countries and will this list be made publicly available?  
7.  It is our understanding that the required analysis cannot differentiate between exogenous water 
used for oenological practices and exogenous wa ter used for dilution. Uruguay's new regulation is 
not clear on how water used for oenological practices is to be accommodated in the regulation and 
subsequent analysis. Water permitted for oenological practices, cannot be regarded as illegal.  
8.  Uruguay's r egulation will require that a detailed database of the water and wine in each region 
of the exporting country is maintained on a continuous basis. South Africa does not have such a 
database for the water and wine in each of its wine producing regions. It c urrently does not have 
any laboratory in South Africa that is able to perform oxygen isotope analyses. The establishment 
of a representative database will be exorbitantly expensive, and it will only be used for wines G/TBT/W/643  
 
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  exported to Uruguay. The analysis that will be compared with the detail in the database will never 
be 100% accurate as all sources of water cannot be covered by the analysis.  
9.  The enforcement of this regulation will make it impossible for South Africa to export wine to 
Uruguay.  
10.  South Africa is also concerned that Uruguay did not provide a "reasonable interval" of at least 
six months between the adoption date of the regulation and its entry into force as Ministers agreed 
to interpret a "reasonable interval" as stated in paragraph 5.2 of the Doha  Ministerial Decision of 
14 November 20011 on Implementation -related issues and concerns related to the Agreement on 
Technical Barriers to Trade and also recommended by the Committee2. 
11.  South Africa is interested to know why the six -month period between adop tion and entry into 
force of the regulations as decided by Ministers could not be adhered to. Why is this time ineffective 
in fulfilling the legitimate objective pursued?  
 
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1 WT/MIN(01)/17  para 5.2  
2 G/TBT/1/Rev.13  section 5.3.1.10