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Written question asked by Daniel Zeichner (Labour) on Friday, 4 June 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 8 June 2021. It was answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative) on Monday, 14 June 2021 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Wines: Imports

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of additional costs to UK wine importers resulting from changes in organic certification following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Answer

The UK retained Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 and Commission Regulations (EC) Nos 889/2008 and 1235/2008 for organics. These regulations state that any business involved in activities at any stage of production, preparation, import and distribution of organic products must be certified by an approved certification body. This is to ensure the integrity of organic produce from the grower to the consumer.

Defra approves six control bodies to operate in the UK. These are private bodies which set their own fee structures for certification. Any information regarding fees for particular businesses would be commercially sensitive information, private to the individual business and their control body. As a result, it would not be possible for us to make an assessment of the added costs for wine importers.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
10414
Session
2021-22
Subjects
Costs Certification Imports Organic farming Wines Brexit
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk