Austrian National Assembly Adopts New Regulations for Wine Marketing Contributions

The new regulations were necessary due to the cuts in federal funding in 2011 and especially because valorisation of the contributions from the sector (winemakers and the wine trade) has not been possible since 1996. The Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB), which obtains these funds along with contributions from the federal wine-growing states for the umbrella advertising of Austrian wine, welcomes the new regulations and sees the continued successful advertising of Austrian wine at home and abroad secured. The new system brings uniform contributions and increases efficiency through electronic collection.

A general, overall per-liter contribution is replacing the contribution from winemakers of 55 euros per hectare of cultivated vineyards and a per-liter contribution from wine traders. In the future, each winery must pay a marketing contribution for its harvested wine and its bottled wines released on the market. The base amount is to be paid annually by each winery harvesting more than 3000 liters, according to its harvest declaration on November 30th of the vintage year. The per-bottle marketing contribution from each winery is to be paid according to the winery's bottle stock report as of July 31st.
This also includes marketed sparkling wines as well as the exported volumes of barrel wines. To keep the levying costs low, the wine law modifications specify that the electronic processing of harvest and stock declarations should be made. The maximum base contribution and per-bottle fee must be established through an Agrarmarkt Austria regulation (politically agreed is 1.1 cents per liter).

Because contributions correlate with the respective harvest volumes, the AWMB must expect direct budget reductions for vintages that yield low harvest quantities.
 

“The new contribution system guarantees that each liter of Austrian wine is equally funded,” says Josef Pleil, president of the Austrian Winegrowers' Association and who contributed significantly to the modification of the funding regulations. The many exceptions that used to exist have now been eliminated and, moreover, the levying efforts have now been significantly reduced through the use of electronic harvest and stock declarations. “Therefore, also more funds for the Austrian Wine Marketing Board should be available. Winemakers who market their wines themselves face a higher levy, but they will also benefit especially from the umbrella advertising of the AWMB.”

The proposal for the new regulations was developed within the Austrian wine industry and was unanimously endorsed by the entire sector. Also the sparkling wine sector recognized the advantages of an overall wine marketing strategy and now, for the first time, will contribute to the umbrella advertising activities. The new regulations were presented to the Austrian parliament by Representative Johannes Schmuckenschlager, who also is an AWMB board member.

“We can see that this willingness to pay higher contributions in the future is a mark of the sector's enormous appreciation for the work that the AWMB does,” says the organisation's general manager, Willi Klinger. “Because of the secured financing, we now have the opportunity to continue working together successfully with the Austrian wine industry and our worldwide network of contacts for the benefit of our winemakers and wine traders.”