UK wine industry toasts "historic" decision over government's scrapping of red tape
The UK wine industry is toasting the government’s agreement to do away with wine-specific red tape on imports from around the world, and represents a "signficant" post-Brexit victory for the UK wine trade.
This is according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) which has been campaigning hard for the Government to scrap time-consuming and costly VI-1 forms on imported wine since the referendum in 2016. After leaving the EU the WSTA warned that the introduction of new forms and lab tests would have brought wine imports from the EU to a grinding halt, and cost the industry around £70m. It claims that today’s decision to get rid of all wine import certification, not just those for EU wine will bring about even greater savings.
“This is a truly historic moment for the UKs world-leading wine trade,” said the WSTA’s chief executive Miles Beale. “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 on-EU wine imports on the other. The first would have cost the UK wine industry some £70m [annually], reduced consumer choice and bumped up prices. The second will increase those savings to over £100 million. It’s a truly fantastic outcome.” He added that this was a “major win” for wine lovers as well as the wine industry.
Meanwhile, James Miles, chairman and managing director at Liv-ex Ltd said he could not overstate the importance of the announcement to the UK’s wine industry. “Government has shown it is in tune with business by taking this once in a lifetime opportunity. By removing these unnecessary and costly non-tariff barriers to trade it has re-set our trading arrangements with the rest of the world in a way that that will enhance the UK’s leading position in the global wine trade.”
The vast bulk (99%) of the wine consumed in the UK is imported, with over half (55%) coming from the EU. The UK wine industry contributes around £11 billion every year in economic activity and employs 130,000 people across the supply chain. The scrapping of these tariffs, championed by the WSTA will prevent the price of a bottle of wine increasing by around 13p.