The UK government said on Sunday it would axe some post-Brexit red tape on wine imports following warnings from the trade that it would cause lasting damage.
The move to end requirements for VI-1 import certificates, which ministers said would save British consumers about £130m a year, was welcomed by the sector.
The red tape was an EU requirement dating back to the 1970s, when it was introduced to protect European wine-producing regions, such as Chablis or Burgundy, from poor-quality new world imitations.
The UK and EU wine trade were dismayed when London announced it would maintain the VI-1 form after leaving the bloc and extend it to wines from EU countries such as France, Italy and Spain, albeit after a six-month grace period.
The EU supplies about half of the $4.4bn of wine the UK imports each year.
Ministers had previously insisted the additional post-Brexit cost would only add an average 10p per bottle to the retail price of imported wine.
“The government spent the past seven months digging a deeper and deeper hole for itself by pretending the industry wanted VI-1s to maintain quality,” said Daniel Lambert, a wine merchant who has lobbied against the certificates.
“I really don’t know why because this is the first real identifiable Brexit dividend . . . this really is huge for the wine trade,” Lambert said, predicting that the EU would also now move to scrap the certification requirements.
He added that London’s decision would benefit small, family-owned vineyards who bottle wine at source, rather than big producers who import it into the UK in 40,000-litre containers and bottle it here.
“For the niche producers of the interesting stuff, costing around £12 to £50 per bottle, this is where it will make a massive difference”.
The VI-1 is particularly problematic for fine wine merchants, because the certificates require laboratory sampling, necessitating the opening of rare or expensive bottles of wine that cannot then be resold.
The decision has “re-set our trading arrangements with the rest of the world in a way that will enhance the UK’s leading position in the global wine trade”, said James Miles, chair and co-founder of wine exchange Liv-ex.
Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, hailed the move as a “truly fantastic outcome”.
He added: “We have spent more than two years campaigning relentlessly to avoid the introduction of new import certificates for EU wine imports on the one hand and scrapping the unnecessary and costly VI-1 wine paperwork for non-EU wine imports on the other.”
Victoria Prentis, the UK food and drink minister, said: “Cutting this needless red tape will place our businesses in a stronger position internationally, as they continue to grow.”
Imports of wine from the EU into Northern Ireland were unaffected by the VI-1 requirement due to the region’s status in the post-transition trade arrangements with the EU. Imports of other non-EU wines would be considered as part of wider discussions about the Northern Ireland protocol, the government said.
Source: Economy - ft.com
