The Wine (Revocation and Consequential Provision) Regulations 2023: RPC Opinion (Green-rated)
Regulatory Policy Committee opinion on Defra’s Wine (Revocation and Consequential Provision) Regulations 2023 IA
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The policy will amend UK wine regulations to better suit the needs of domestic wine producers, while also removing EU regulations that is currently restricting the UK wine sector. The regulations contain multiple elements including:
• to remove the requirement that imported wine needs to show the prefix ‘importer’ or ‘imported by’ before the address of the business responsible for importing that wine to Great Britain;
• to remove restrictions on the growing of hybrid grape varieties;
• to remove the ban on the production and sale of piquette in the UK;
• to remove the ban on blending imported wines;
• to remove restrictions governing the type of wraps and stoppers that can be used on bottles;
• to remove wine certification arrangements;
• to remove EU rules concerning reservation of certain bottle shapes for certain EU wines; and
• to revoke retained regulation (EU) 2019/935 setting out GB methods of analysis and controls on enrichment.
The IA includes analysis that is supported by appropriate stakeholder and consultation evidence, to produce a robust EANDCB. The Department notes the difficulty in identifying the number of small and micro businesses (SMBs) affected but includes a sufficient discussion of the impact upon them. The IA should attempt to make a stronger case for regulatory intervention. A range of wider impacts have been considered for each policy; however, the IA would be improved by considering the collective wider impact of all interventions being made. The IA must include an assessment of the impact on competition and market dynamics of the entire range of measures introduced collectively, as well as considering the implications for trading with the EU. The Department has committed to undertake a post-implementation review (PIR).