Wine Export Certification

Tender description

In the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the UK will become a third country in relation to the EU and goods exported from the UK will therefore be subject to the EU’s legislative requirements of third country imports. This means that each consignment of wine products exported to the EU from the UK will need to be accompanied by an export certificate VI-1 document which is made up of two parts: a certificate issued by a competent authority and an analysis report signed and stamped by a designated laboratory. These requirements are set out in Article 90 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and Section II of Regulation (EU) 2018/273. Defra will act as the competent authority for issuing VI-1 documents. The ability to issue VI-1 documents is dependent on a laboratory/laboratories being designated to draw up the analysis reports in advance and those laboratories being recognised by the EU and listed by the European Commission. Whether the wine to be exported originated within the UK or any other third country determines the process for issuing VI-1 documents. As such, a split process is in place whereby VI-1 certificates are certified by the competent authority, Defra. For the purposes of issuing a VI-1 document, wine produced within the UK will be required to be tested by a designated laboratory. Defra are alerting the market of the opportunity to become an approved laboratory. In order to become approved, laboratories are required to have ISO/IEC 17025 UKAS accreditation. Full details are available in the attached documents.