G/TBT/W/431  
19 January 2016  
(16-0371)  Page: 1/1  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: Spanish  
 
  THAILAND – DRAFT NOTIFICATION OF THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES CONTROL, 
RE: RULES, PROCEDURES AND CONDITIONS FOR LABELS 
OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES 
STATEMENT BY MEXICO TO THE COMMITT EE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
4-6 NOVEMBER 2015 
The following communication, dated 15 January 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Mexico. 
 
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1.  Mexico would like to begin by thanking Thailand for being available, during previous sessions, 
for the holding of bilateral meetings, and for the amendments to the "Draft Notification of the 
Alcoholic Beverages Control, Re: Rules, Procedures and Conditions for Labels of Alcoholic Beverages", which eliminated some of the Mexican industry's main concerns. Mexico unreservedly 
recognizes the right of each country to issue its technical regulations in pursuit of legitimate 
objectives. 
2.  The concern was first raised at the June 2014 Committee meeting. It has been reiterated on 
several occasions in this forum, and on 8 May 2015 we circulated the "Statement by Mexico to the 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade at its meeting of 18-19 March 2015" regarding the aforementioned Draft Notification issued by Tha iland. This statement was published on 11 May as 
document G/TBT/W/408. 
3.  During the bilateral meetings and this Committee's past sessions, Thailand said that it would be 
publishing the final version of the Draft Notification. On April 15 this year, Thailand notified the 
date of adoption and entry into force of the "Notification of the Alcoholic Beverages Control, regarding Rules, Procedure and Condition for Labels of Alcoholic Beverages" in document 
G/SPS/N/THA/221/Add.1. In order to learn more about the content of the text, Mexico requested a 
version of the Draft in English from the contact point. However, the contact point explained to us that they only had the Thai version of the text. 
4.  Similarly, at a meeting between Mexico and the alcoholic beverage industry, it was mentioned 
that on 30 September of this year, Thailand issued  guidelines for the implementation of the Draft 
Notification, which were to take effect in October. Mexico wishes to know the text of these 
guidelines and requests that they be notified to WTO Members and that a time-frame be set for 
receiving and considering comments from the various Members. 
5.  Lastly, Mexico wishes once again to submit this trade concern. Owing to the lack of clarity 
regarding the provisions of the Notification, we are especially concerned about the prohibition of "messages that cause public discord and division". We would therefore like to receive specific answers from Thailand to the following questions: 
a. Will it be possible to finish marketing the (Tequila) products in stock that are currently 
ready for distribution? 
b. Without prejudice to the continuation of th e technical discussion on the content of the 
measure, it is requested that the time-fra m e  b e  e x t e n d e d  t o  1 2  m o n t h s  f o r  f u l l y  
complying with the new regulations and making the necessary labelling adjustments. 
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