BC grocery store wine sales spill into WTO

The United States says it wants Canadian province British Columbia to stop discriminating against imported wine through its regulation of allowing only provincial wine to be sold on regular grocery store shelves.    The United States has requested World Trade Organization consultations related to Canadian province British Columbia’s handling of grocery store wine sales. 
   The United States argues that British Columbia’s measures appear to discriminate against imported wine through its regulation of allowing only provincial wine to be sold on regular grocery store shelves, while imported wine may be sold via a so-called “store within a store,” or in other words in a separate in-store location.
   The request is the second filed by the United States. The first request for WTO consultations was filed by the United States on Jan. 18.
   British Columbia’s regulations were amended in April 2015 to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores. The rules provided two options for grocery stores to sell wine: Non-origin BC wines may be sold in the store, but only BC wines may be sold from grocery store shelves.
   Consultations are the first step in the WTO dispute settlement process. If the United States and Canada are not able to reach a mutually agreed solution through consultations, then the U.S. government may ask the WTO to set up a dispute settlement panel to examine the matter.