EU to Challenge High India Tariffs On Spirits at WTO
The European Union is set to launch a formal complaint against India at the World Trade Organization over high import tariffs on wine and spirits, a move that would mark the first time the EU has taken on India's tariff barriers at the WTO.
The EU move follows the collapse this summer of global trade talks and shows how the EU and the U.S. appear ready to challenge India's high import tariffs on their own -- even at the risk of pushing the countries into a more confrontational era of trade. The U.S. already is pressing India on a number of trade issues, including barriers to retail investment and quirky health and environmental standards that effectively block certain imports, such as big-engine Harley Davidson motorcycles.
The complaint would be the EU's first case of any kind filed against India at the Geneva trading arbiter since 2003. Yesterday, EU and WTO officials described a filing date as "very close," perhaps within days, but wouldn't offer further specifics. If India is found to have violated trade rules, the WTO can order it to cut its tariffs.
With global trade talks suspended, the EU's biggest trade goal now is prying open rapidly growing emerging markets like India, China and Brazil. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is in China this week lobbying for the Asian giant to open up more markets for EU companies, especially in high-value sectors such as banking and cars. The EU also is negotiating a trade deal with a group of Latin American countries that includes Brazil.
Decades of socialism have shouldered India with a difficult business environment, leaving it a laggard in world trade. India's relatively closed markets have, for years, deterred foreign investors, while bureaucracy and pervasive corruption have stymied those companies that do come. India drew just $6 billion in foreign direct investment last year, or about one-tenth what China attracted. In September, the World Bank ranked India 134th out of 175 locales in difficulty of setting up or operating a business.
The EU's trade with India amounted to �40 billion ($51 billion) of goods and services last year, with exports to India accounting for less than 2% of the EU total. By comparison, trade between the 25-nation bloc and China totaled �209.7 billion last year. India and the EU agreed at a summit in Helsinki last month to try for a bilateral trade treaty by early 2009. Mr. Mandelson is traveling to India next week.
He will again bring up wine. India ranks second in world population, at one billion, but 89th in buying bottled wine from the EU, at �6.4 million last year, a mere drop in the EU's overall �11.5 billion in total bottled-wine exports, according to Global Trade Information Services.
India bought �38.6 million of Scotch whiskey in 2005, says David Williamson of the Scotch Whiskey Association, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. "That's less than 1% of a 100 million-case spirit market [in India], so you can see a huge potential," Mr. Williamson said. Scotch-whisky exports to China totaled �68.3 million in 2005.
"We've been lobbying for years, but India has remained essentially closed," says Lisa McCooey of the European Spirits Organization. The organization asked the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to investigate the Indian market in July 2005.
欧盟将挑战印度的贸易政策
欧盟将针对印度对葡萄酒和烈酒进口维持高关税一事正式向世界贸易组织(WTO)提出投诉。欧盟和WTO的官员们周四表示，正式提交投诉书的日子“很近了”，可能就在最近几天，但他们不愿进一步详述。
此举意义重大，因为这是欧盟首次就印度的关税壁垒问题向WTO提出投诉，也是2003年以来欧盟首次向WTO投诉印度。此事发生在全球贸易谈判于今年夏天破裂之后，它显示了欧盟和美国对于单独挑战印度贸易政策的坚定程度──即使是冒着与印度加大贸易对立的风险也在所不惜。WTO有权命令违反了其贸易规则的成员国削减关税。
鉴于全球贸易谈判迟迟无法取得进展，打破印度、中国和巴西等新兴市场大国的贸易壁垒已成了欧盟最大的贸易目标。欧盟贸易委员曼德尔森(Peter Mandelson)本周访华时就要求中国向欧盟企业进一步开放市场，特别是在银行和汽车等高附加值领域。欧盟还在与包括巴西在内的一批拉美国家谈判一项贸易协议。
实行了数十年的社会主义制度使印度形成了难于经商的环境，并使它在全球贸易中表现落伍。多年来，印度相对封闭的市场环境使海外投资者对其望而却步，而该国的官僚机构和普遍存在的腐败则使那些已经进入印度的外国企业苦不堪言。印度去年只吸引了60亿美元的外商直接投资，相当于中国的十分之一。在世界银行(World Bank)今年9月推出的企业创业和经营困难度排名中，印度在175个国家和地区中排在第134位。
欧盟与印度间的商品和服务贸易额去年为400亿欧元(510亿美元)，对印出口不及欧盟出口总额的2%。而欧盟去年与中国的双边贸易额却达到了2,097亿美元。
印度和欧盟在上月于赫尔辛基举行的一次峰会上同意，要在2009年初之前努力达成一项双边贸易协议。曼德尔森下周将访问印度。
访印期间他将再次提出葡萄酒问题。印度是世界第二人口大国，但Global Trade Information Services提供的数据显示，它去年只从欧洲进口了价值640万欧元的瓶装葡萄酒，在全球只排在第89位，相对于欧盟每年115亿欧元的瓶装葡萄酒出口额不过是沧海一粟。
苏格兰威士忌联合会(Scotch Whiskey Association)的大卫?威廉森(David Williamson)称，印度在2005年进口了价值3,860万欧元的苏格兰威士忌。他说，印度每年的烈酒消费量有1亿箱，而进口的苏格兰威士忌在其中所占的比例不及1%，因此市场潜力巨大。中国2005年进口了价值6,830万欧元的苏格兰威士忌。
欧洲烈酒组织(European Spirits Organization)的利萨?麦考埃(Lisa McCooey)说：“我们已经游说了多年，但印度的大门事实上依然关闭着。”这一代表着Pernod Ricard SA、Diageo PLC和Bacardi Ltd.等酿酒企业的行业组织以及欧洲葡萄酒委员会(European Wine Committee)都在2005年7月向欧盟的执行机构欧盟委员会(European Commission)提出了调查印度市场的要求。
欧盟委员会经过8个月的调查后认为，有理由向WTO投诉印度。曼德尔森直到赫尔辛基峰会前一直都给印度留着削减酒类进口关税的机会，但印度拒绝了。
印度政府称没人告知它欧盟的这一投诉。
印度商工部长卡迈勒?纳特(Kamal Nath)在周四发表的一份声明中说：“印度对从欧洲所进口大多数商品征收的关税都大大低于常规水平。”
但葡萄酒和烈酒不在其列。葡萄酒的进口税率为260%左右，而在进口葡萄酒卖给消费者之前各邦还要再加征各种税收。印度的烈酒进口税率在25%至150%之间。
随着印度人生活水平的提高，葡萄酒销售额也在攀升。印度的葡萄酒市场正以每年25%的速度增长，法国是向印度出口葡萄酒最多的国家。
虽然印度仍然是一个农村人口占大多数的穷国，但其富裕的城市人口却在不断增多。据印度商工部称，该国的中产阶级人口已经达到2.1亿左右，并且仍在以每年约2,000万人的速度增长。
受困于印度贸易壁垒的并非只有欧盟。虽然包括美国和中国在内的许多国家都试图增加与印度的贸易联系，但它们在进入印度市场方面所遭遇的挫折都不胜枚举。
这些国家都要求印度扩大市场准入。美国一直要求印度放宽对外国公司投资印度零售业的限制，以便沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)能在印度开展业务。中国则抱怨说包括通讯设备生产商华为技术有限公司(Huawei Technologies Co.)在内的数家中国企业被排除在了印度某些项目的竞标之外，印度政府对此提出的理由是出于国家安全的考虑。
而印度则对欧盟和美国在某些贸易问题上的立场提出了批评，简而言之不满它们对农产品提供补贴的做法。印度的贸易官员还要求美国放宽签证限制，以便更多的印度专业人员能够访问美国。
Peter Wonacott / John W. Miller
