Producer organisations at the service of the favourable chain of values to winegrowers and winemakers: the example of France

French law and European Union law recognise the existence of interprofessional organisations that bring together all the links in the wine industry. They are the cornerstone of the organisation of the wine sector. Their legitimacy is legally recognized. The wine sector is not just part of the agricultural domain, as wine production is most often commercial in nature, a source of complexity in French law.

The interprofessional organisations are freely constituted, on the initiative of the most representative professional organisations of wine production and, depending on the case, of the processing, marketing and distribution of wine and wine products. It brings together professional families whose activity is related to a specific product or group of products, either at the national level or at the level of a production area, in this case wines, spirits and other beverages.

They have been built around wines with a designation of origin and geographical indication, and a national inter-branch organisation for wines that do not have one. All these wines are produced and made exclusively from the defined terroirs whose names they bear. For other wines, the indication ‘Vin de France’ guarantees that they have been produced in France.

They contribute to the harmonious development of the sector in the interest of all stakeholders thanks to a better flow of information between the various operators in production, processing, marketing and distribution, providing a comprehensive and appropriate response to developments in their markets, without conflicting with the principle of free competition.