To whom it may concern,

I understand that the Federal Trade Commission has scheduled a workshop October 8-10 to address how state regulations and private business practices may have anticompetitive effects on E-commerce in nine industry segments, including wine. I am particularly concerned about the restrictions to interstate wine shipment.

I am a resident of the state of Wisconsin, where current state law permits the direct shipment of wine, but restricts such shipments to one case per year. The wine distributors in the state recently wrote
new legislation that was passed by the legislature (helped along by generous campaign donations during the state budget negotiations) that seeks to strictly enforce this shipping limit.

I am also a wine collector, and these limits are of much concern to me. The wine distributors to not carry wine from the small boutique wineries that are the focus of my collection. These wineries are
simply too small for a distributor to bother with. The limits thus not only suppress competition, THEY ELIMINATE MY ACCESS to wine produced by many small wineries. In effect, the distributors dictate
not only how wine is purchased, but also WHICH wines may be purchased.

I hope you are able to address this situation in your workshop.

Sincerely,

Mike Cox