(Wine-Searcher) - Italian government sign deal with eBay in an effort to stop abuse of Italian wine names.

The Italian wine industry is not flattered by foreign imitations of its wines, a practice that is costing the country's producers more than $1 billion each year.

As part of a crackdown on imitations, Italian authorities signed a deal with eBay this week, which commits the e-commerce site to remove wine adverts that misuse the name of, or claim to originate from, a protected Italian wine style or region.

The Italian government and eBay have agreed "to protect the unique heritage of the Made in Italy brand", said government minister Maurizio Martina at Vinitaly. "I want to emphasize that we are the only country in the world to have entered into a such agreement with an online platform of the reach of eBay, with 800 million listings in the world. And the numbers give us reason: so far 160 products falsely claiming to be Made in Italy have been reported, worth approximately €50m ($55m)."

At the Italian wine trade fair, the country's largest agricultural association also focused on a crackdown on Italian lookalikes. It erected a "Corner of Shame" for products including Chianti made in both Canada and America, Prosecco made in Crimea, as well as South American Marsala.

While American "Chianti" producers are not committing any crime so-naming their wines under current EU-US legal arrangements, that's not much comfort to the Italian wine community.

Coldiretti claimed that these products could harm the reputation of Chianti and other premium regions over the long-term, particularly in emerging markets.

The association also called for a ban on powdered wine kits, which claim to produce Chianti, Barolo, Valpolicella and Montepulciano taste-alikes in just a few days. Coldretti named several Canadian companies including Andrew Peller Ltd and its various subsidiaries that sell wine kits.