India is ready to face any action on the issue of high duty on wines and spirits imported from the European Union (EU) even as the two sides meet on November 6 for discussing trade and investment.
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Maharashtra is the only state that has not complied with the Union government advice to lower levies on imported wines and spirits. The issue has already been sorted out with the Goa and Tamil Nadu governments, which have agreed to give ‘national treatment’ to the imported liquor, which stipulates that they be treated on par as domestic items.
Goa, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are among the biggest markets for imported wine and spirits.
“The commerce minister (Anand Sharma) has written a letter to the Maharashtra chief minister urging it to fall in line. The matter has already been settled with Goa and Tamil Nadu. EU knows very well that nothing can be done beyond this as it is a state subject. However, if it still take us to the World Trade Organization (WTO), we are ready,” a senior commerce department official told Business Standard.
The process of dragging a member country to WTO incurs heavy expense on the complainant and takes anywhere between two and four years. On a recent visit to India, Foreign Trade Minister of France Anne Marie Idrac said the country hoped the issue would be sorted out amicably soon without having to move WTO.
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