UK's WSTA slams government for reneging on agreement to suspend costly paperwork on wine imports and exports
The UK’s leading wine industry body has criticised the government for the introduction of additional paperwork for wines being imported from the EU.
This is despite the fact that earlier this year officials agreed that the most sensible solution was to freeze paperwork on wine imports for a nine month period in the event that the UK crashed out of the EU without a deal in place.
However, according to the WSTA, the government are now planning on reneging on the agreement and planning to introduce the red tape, which it warns will lead to higher prices for consumers.
At the end of last month the WSTA spelled out in the ‘’strongest possible terms’ the damage that the additional documentation and tariffs on wine would have on the UK wine industry. The costly new form filling will result in an estimated 500,000 import certificates (known as VI-1 forms), all accompanied by expensive labe analysis will be required to keep wine imports from Europe.
Wine being shipped to the EU from the UK will also have to complte one of the forms, meaning an additional 150,000 forms which will put an additional strain on wine exports. Each form is estimated to cost around £20, which has to be filled out by hand, while the lab tests will cost over £300 a time.
Under the current system and as part of the EU, the UK has access to the EU’s Excise movement Control System (EMCS) which tracks alcohol coming in and going out of the country, documenting consignments electronically.
However a no deal Brexit will mean the UK loses access to EMCS which the WSTA claim will lead to “significant confusion and delay at British ports”.
But the extra form filling won’t just leave the wine industry with a headache, UK wine inspectors will find themselves drowning in processing the paperwork. Every handwritten VI-1 form will have to be scrutinised and stamped before wine from Europe is allowed into the UK. It is estimated that it would take 12 full time wine inspectors a whole year to process the half a million new VI-1 forms expected to mount up after a no deal Brexit. This does not take into account the other work carried out by Wine Standards who currently consist of a team of six regional inspectors.
“The Government’s failure to honour commitments to suspend the VI1 forms is a real blow for the UK wine industry,” said the WSTA’s chief executive Miles Beale. “The additional form filling and laboratory tests required for a no deal scenario will add a massive burden on exporters and importers alike. Wine inspectors will find themselves drowning in paperwork and consignments are going to be held up by unnecessary additional red tape.”
He added that the solution was simply to suspend the introduction of “pointless” import certificates and use the time to develop modern import rules that are fit for purpose.