Wine Law

3 I will focus here on two specific profiles. Firstly, on the nature of wine as a consumer good and secondly on the type of contracts most commonly used today: international sale and distribution, which are certainly also used for e-commerce. 2. Wine as a Consumer Good In order to identify the appropriate rules to apply within wine sector, it is important to define what type of good is that of wine. Wine is certainly classifiable among consumer goods. In this respect, reference should be made to Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees 6 . Article 1(2)(b) of the Directive defines consumer goods as any tangible movable property except: - goods sold by force or otherwise by judicial authorities; - water and gas, when not packaged for sale in a specified volume or quantity; - electricity. Member States have transposed this definition in various ways. Some Member States have followed the Directive, while other Member States, without making use of the permitted derogation, apply the relevant rules to all movable property. In addition, as regards Austria and Portugal, the relevant legislation also applies to sales of real estate to consumers; while Greece and Slovenia have not documented transposition of the definition. 3. The Relevance of the Contract Upstream of a wine sale there is an agreement between seller and buyer: a contract. Even if it is concluded only verbally, it is in fact existing and gives rise to rights and obligations. The drafting of a contract in written form can be perceived as yet another complication in the enormous amount of documents and fulfilments for those working in the international wine trade. 6 Available on: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A31999L0044.