Court decision: Membership in an appellation is liable to charges

This decision is mainly based on a lawsuit that a group of vintners has been pursuing since December, 2011, versus the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB)*. The rebellious producers didn’t want to pay their fees with reference to the mismanagement and to the lack of transparency at the CIVB.

“This is an important decision”, Georges Haushalter, CIVB director, comments the court decision. “None of the labor unions in France would be in a position to continue its work without membership fees, in case the court had declared the payment or claim, respectively, for membership fees unconstitutional.”

For all the agricultural labor unions, membership fees are inevitable, and so are they for the viticultural organizations in each wine growing area. According to the CIVB, the viticultural organizations earn a considerable budget that is paid by vintners as well as wine traders year by year. As a rule, this money is spent on marketing, re-search and the promotion of the wines.

*The Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (in short: CIVB) is the profes-sional association for Bordeaux wines and is – as a public institution – subject to su-pervision by the Ministry for Agriculture and, thus, to state control. About 400 wine traders and 12,000 vintners are registered as members and are, thus, liable to con-tributions. (red.yoopress)