Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, applying to wine and made-wine produced in the United Kingdom for sale, come into force on 1st September 1989. They revoke and replace, with some amendments and rearrangement, the Wine and Made-wine Regulations 1979.

The principal changes introduced by the Regulations are:—

(a)

a requirement is included for a licensed producer to notify the Commissioners of intention to stop production, or of discontinuance of trade;

(b)

provision is made for the Commissioners to cancel a producer’s licence for reasonable cause;

(c)

provision is made for duty to be remitted on wine or made-wine sent out of a winery at a strength not exceeding 1.2 per cent.;

(d)

provision is made for wine or made-wine to be sent out without payment of duty for such additional purposes (except home use) as the Commissioners may allow;

(e)

wine or made-wine for the production of which a licence is not required, or cider, may not be produced in a winery save as the Commissioners allow;

(f)

the regulations on stocktaking and accounts provide for the recording of separate particulars for products of a strength not exceeding 1.2 per cent., exceeding 1.2 per cent. but not exceeding 5.5 per cent., and exceeding 5.5 per cent.;

(g)

when the fifteenth day of an accounting period is not a business day, the periodic return and duty payment are to be made not later than the preceding business day;

(h)

the provisions for relief of duty on spoilt wine or made-wine have been revised to clarify the scope of the relief; and

(j)

the restriction on the proportions of mixing wine with made-wine is removed, and segregation of wine from made-wine in storage is no longer required.