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On 3 June 2019 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC), Australia's competition and consumer protection regulator, released an Interim Report drawing attention to harmful market practices that could be restricting competition in some Australian wine grape growing regions and limiting the potential for growth of Australia's wine industry. Stakeholders in the Australian wine industry are encouraged to make submissions on the interim report by 28 June 2019.
2019年6月3日，澳大利亚竞争与消费者保护监管机构——澳大利亚竞争与消费者委员会(ACCC)发布了一份临时报告，提请人们注意有害性市场行为，这些行为可能会抑制澳大利亚部分葡萄产区的竞争力度、限制澳大利亚葡萄酒行业的增长潜力。ACCC还鼓励澳大利亚葡萄酒行业的利益相关者在2019年6月28日之前就临时报告反馈意见。
The report identified a number of practices adopted by wine makers when entering into supply contracts with grape growers which were described by the ACCC as concerning, including:
报告列举了葡萄酒生产商在与葡萄种植者签订供应合同时采取的一些被ACCC认定为具有关联性的措施，这些措施包括:
•a lack of transparency and certainty over how grapes are priced and quality assessed;
•exclusive and lengthy supply contracts with automatic and long term extensions;
•lack of price certainty for growers during the supply contract term;
•lack of publicity of prices and strict confidentiality obligations preventing price disclosure by growers, making it difficult for growers to assess whether price offers they receive are competitive;
•delayed payment terms, in some instances up to nine months after grapes have been delivered to a winery; and
•difficult termination clauses.
•葡萄的定价和质量评估缺乏透明度和确定性;
•冗长的独家供应合同，这些合同具有长期的自动延展性;
•供应合同期内对种植者缺乏价格确定性;
•严格的保密义务、匮乏的定价公开性阻碍了种植者进行价格披露，使种植者难以评估他们所获得的价格优惠是否具有竞争力;
•延迟付款条款，在某些情况下，葡萄交付给酿酒厂后长达九个月后才会付款;
•条件极难成就的终止条款。
The ACCC made a number of interim recommendations aimed at addressing the power imbalance between winemakers and growers, including:
ACCC提出了一系列旨在解决酿酒商和种植者之间权力失衡的临时性建议，包括:
•winemakers in warm climate regions should be required to provide indicative and final grape prices to an independent third party for simultaneous public release;
•payment terms for wine grapes should be shortened so growers are paid within 30 days of delivering grapes;
•objective standardised testing for wine grape quality assessments should be developed; and
•the dispute resolution processes in the Australian Wine Industry Code of Conduct (the Code) should be improved.
•应要求气候温暖地区的酿酒商向独立第三方提供具有指示性和终局性的葡萄收购价格，以便同时公开披露;
•应缩短葡萄酒的付款期限，确保种植者在葡萄交付后30天内获得支付;
•应制定客观的葡萄酒质量评估标准化测试;
•应改进澳大利亚葡萄酒行业行为准则（Australian Wine Industry Code of Conduct）中的争议解决流程。
The Code was established in 2008 by industry participants in an attempt to address ongoing issues within the wine industry - but participation in the Code is voluntary.
该准则于2008年由行业参与者建立，旨在解决葡萄酒行业内的持续问题，但参与该准则是基于自愿的。
To be an effective mechanism to improve industry practices, the ACCC states that participation in the Code by major winemakers is essential. With that end in mind, the ACCC recommends that Australian winemakers with more than 10,000 tonnes of processing capacity sign the Code. However, the ACCC states that current participation levels are problematic. The ACCC states that if participation levels by major winemakers do not improve the ACCC may recommend to Government that a mandatory code be introduced.
为了成为改善行业惯例的有效机制，ACCC指出主要酿酒商参与“守则”至关重要。考虑到这一点，ACCC建议拥有超过10,000吨加工能力的澳大利亚酿酒商签署该准则。然而，ACCC指出目前的参与度存在较大问题。ACCC还指出，如果主要酿酒商的参与度没有提高，ACCC可能会向政府建议引入强制性规范。
The ACCC will publish its final report in September 2019. Putting aside for a moment the recommendations that are yet to be implemented, the ACCC has identified a range of contract terms which it considers may be unfair under the Australian Consumer Law (the ACL). The ACL applies to many business to business transactions. While the current ACL unfair contract term regime does not go further than rendering some unfair contract terms unenforceable, the Government recently announced plans to strengthen protections to small businesses from unfair contract terms. As part of this plan, the Government will consult on amending the unfair contract regime to make unfair contract terms illegal and attach fines to breaches.
ACCC将在2019年9月发布其最终报告。暂时搁置尚未实施的建议，ACCC已经确定了一系列合同条款，根据澳大利亚消费者法（ACL），它认为这些条款可能不公平。ACL适用于许多企业对企业的交易。虽然目前ACL的不公平合同条款制度只是使得一些不公平合同条款无法执行，但政府最近宣布了加强保护小企业免受不公平合同条款影响的计划。作为该计划的一部分，政府将就修改不公平合同制度进行磋商，使不公平合同条款成为非法行为，并对违约行为处以罚款。
Winemakers and grape growers looking to get ahead of the curve must review their supply contracts with these changes in mind, especially those contracts that are coming up for renewal or renegotiation. Unfair contract terms should be removed - they can't be enforced, may attract bad press and could, in future, result in a hefty fine.
葡萄酒生产商和葡萄种植者想要走在前面，就必须考虑到这些变化，尤其是那些即将续约或重新谈判的合同。不公平的合同条款应该被取消——这些条款不具有执行的效力，可能会引起不良后果，而且可能在未来导致巨额罚款。
翻译：文静
来源：Williams& Hughes LLP
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