World Trade in Wine and Protectionist Measures

For many countries the production of wine is a tradition and history. For this reason, the government may decide to protect its wine industry. There are a lot of possibilities how a country or an integration group can protect against "importers". They can either fight through the quality of individual products, or select administrative restrictions. National governments may consider the introduction of a variety of import, but also export quotas. They may also discuss the application of the duty and the amount of imports of wine or apply bureaucratic obstacles. All of these tools, however, interfere with free trade and they are against the liberalization of world trade. Protectionist measures belong to the obstacles to trade. The rate of application of trade barriers in the world trade in wine is quite high. The importation of various types of wine from the states lying outside Europe is one of several problems facing the European wine market. Due to the natural conditions of Europe, it is very difficult to compete with wines from the third countries. Europe cannot compete to imported wines at prices