Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Ms Ferguson): I welcome Samantha Swann, head of poultry, meat, eggs, dairy, hops, hemp, wines and spirits policy branch, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs; and Dr Samantha Stewart, head of food security, beef, sheep and pig policy branch, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. When you are ready, you may present to the Committee. Thank you for attending this morning.

Ms Samantha Swann (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): Good morning. I am Samantha Swann, head of poultry, meat, eggs, dairy, hops, hemp, wines and spirits policy branch, and I am accompanied by my colleague Samantha Stewart, head of food security, beef, sheep and pig policy branch, which supports the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), as the competent authority on geographical indications (GIs), with advice from a Northern Ireland perspective.

Thank you for the opportunity to brief the Committee on regulation (EU) 2026/471 that amends certain market rules and sectoral support measures in the wine sector for aromatised wine products and certain labelling rules for spirit drinks. The Act was adopted on 24 February 2026 and was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 26 February 2026. Most elements will enter into force 20 days after publication, on 18 March 2026, with some exemptions to those that apply directly to Northern Ireland in particular, and I will explain those in due course. I understand that the Committee has already received a copy of DAERA's impact assessment of the proposed regulation. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is updating its explanatory memorandum following the publication of the Act.

The proposal for the regulation was published on 28 March 2025 following recommendations made by the high-level group on wine policy. The high-level group was established to discuss challenges and identify possible opportunities for the Union wine sector. The Union wine sector faces a significant crisis, driven by a steady decline in wine consumption, both in the Union and globally. Geopolitical factors and the effects of climate change have worsened the situation, and excess production has put pressure on prices, leaving winegrowers with less capital to invest and no financial reserves to weather severe events.

In December 2024, after four meetings, the group endorsed a document with policy recommendations. The recommendations were broadly welcomed by stakeholders and MEPs at a meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on 13 January 2025. On 26 June 2025, officials appeared before the Committee to present an initial assessment of impact on the proposals for the wine sector regulations. At that meeting, the Committee made a decision to monitor the proposed replacement EU Act and requested that the Department provide a revised assessment of impact if any changes to the Act are proposed by the Council of the EU or the European Parliament that would have a significant impact specific to the everyday life of communities in Northern Ireland in a way that is liable to persist.

Subject to the democratic mechanisms in the Windsor framework, the amendments to regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 will amend rules on the production of lower-alcohol wine to improve arrangements for the production of low-alcohol sparkling wine; introduce rules to harmonise the use of terms to describe lower-alcohol wine and other rules concerning the labelling of wine; and to permit the European Commission to come forward with proposals to harmonise rules on electronic labelling, via a QR code, of ingredients and nutritional information on wine.

Subject to the democratic mechanisms contained in the Windsor framework, the amendments to regulation (EU) No 251/2014 will permit the production and marketing of lower-alcohol aromatised wine products, bringing them into line with the rules on reduced-alcohol and alcohol-free labelling of wine, and it will permit the Commission to come forward with proposals to harmonise the rules on electronic labelling, via a QR code, of ingredients and nutritional information on aromatised wine.

The updates to marketing standards for wine and aromatised wine are relevant to Northern Ireland, although officials anticipate that any impact will be small.

The EU Act amends and harmonises the rules on how low-alcohol wine products are labelled. The aim is to give consumers clear information and support the growing market for reduced-alcohol products.

Under new regulations, wine and aromatised wine with an alcohol content of no more than 0·5% alcohol by volume must be described as "alcohol-free". If the alcohol content does not exceed 0·05%, that description is accompanied by "0·0%" on the label. The legislation includes the term "reduced alcohol" for products in the category whose actual alcoholic strength is above 0.5% by volume and is at least 30% below the minimum actual alcoholic strength in the products in the categories before dealcoholisation.

The term "reduced alcohol" replaces earlier proposals of "alcohol-light" and "low alcohol". For clarification, the impact assessment that you were provided with incorrectly used the term "low alcohol"; that should have been "reduced alcohol".

There is a lead-in time of 18 months for the new requirements on reduced alcohol content and labelling. Wine products that have undergone dealcoholisation and have been labelled before the end of that period may continue to be placed on the market until existing stocks are exhausted. Wines placed on the market in Northern Ireland are already required, under EU law, to show information on nutrition and ingredients on labels directly or via e-labels. The legislation empowers the EU to harmonise arrangements for the e-labelling of wines and aromatic wines to display nutritional and ingredient information, including by way of a common pictogram or a symbol instead of words.

Amendments to regulation 2021/2115 will not apply in Northern Ireland, as the regulation does not fall under annex 2 of the Windsor framework. The aim of the amendments is to allow vineyards to restructure in order to avoid an increase in production; permit producer groups managing protected designations of origin and geographical indications to benefit from support for developing wine tourism; and to increase investment to mitigate climate change impact.

There are also some amendments under regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 that will not apply in Northern Ireland. Those amendments will make it easier for member states to address or prevent risk of surplus production capacity by allowing changes to the vine plant rights arrangements. The proposal was updated to introduce an amendment to regulation (EU) 2024/1143, which relates to geographical indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products, as well as traditional specialties that are guaranteed and optional quality terms for agricultural products. The new amendment removes the obligation for spirit drink GI producers to provide an indication of the name of the producer in the labelling in the same field of vision as the geographical indication. That obligation was due to take effect in May 2026. Its removal is intended to avoid disruption to established practices and imposing disproportionate burdens on operators in that sector, especially small and medium-sized producers.

No formal consultation has taken place across the UK. Due to the urgency to adopt the initiative, the European Commission did not conduct a public consultation or an impact assessment on the amendments before it published the proposal. The costs and benefits of the initiative were assessed in a staff working document that was published in July 2025. The document notes that, overall, the reforms are expected to deliver net benefits, with easier production methods for dealcoholised sparkling wine, and labelling harmonisation, leading to operational efficiency.

On 7 April 2025, the Commission opened an eight-week consultation until 2 June 2025 via the Have Your Say portal that UK stakeholders were able to respond to. A total of 23 responses were received by the Commission's closing date. No responses were received from Irish stakeholders or UK stakeholders. Stakeholders broadly welcomed the Commission's proposals, with very few concerns about the technical changes that will apply in Northern Ireland via regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and regulation (EU) No 251/2014. Respondents' concerns included the fact that the terms used to describe low-alcohol wine could be confusing or ambiguous. Several respondents remarked that the term "alcohol-light" could be taken to refer to the nutritional or sugar content. Other issues included the calls for an exemption from labelling requirements for EU wines that are exported to third countries and clarification on whether mandatory particulars only need to appear once on a label. A request was made to make a clear transition to the new regulations. Feedback was presented to the European Parliament and Council, and updates that reflected the above concerns are included in the final Act.

On 18 February 2026, Have Your Say notices were issued for six proposed delegated and implementing regulations relating to the wine sector. Those include measures setting down rules on electronic labelling of wine and aromatised wine. Additional regulations are proposed that cover wine-making treatments, revisions of rules and procedures for durational terms, and new rules for vineyard plantings.

The regulations are planned for quarter 4 of 2026, and no further details are available at this stage. However, we will continue to monitor those proposals as they progress.

DAERA's assessment remains that it is not likely that the amendments would have a significant impact specific to the everyday life of communities in Northern Ireland in a way that is liable to persist. It also remains the view of officials that it is not likely that not applying the amendments would have a significant impact specific to the everyday life of communities in Northern Ireland in a way that is liable to persist.

All wine placed in the Northern Ireland market is moved from GB or imported from the EU or the rest of the world. We do not believe that the EU's technical changes to harmonise labeling arrangements will result in significant additional costs to traders.

We were previously aware of only one company operating in Northern Ireland that might bottle wine. However, following engagement with that stakeholder, we have received confirmation that no wine bottling takes place at its Northern Ireland site. All bottling is carried out at its plants in GB.

On that basis, our understanding is that all wine arrives pre-bottled from Great Britain, the EU or the rest of the world. It is not considered likely that the regulation would have a significant impact on UK internal market movements. That means that the qualifying goods would continue to move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland via the Northern Ireland retail movement scheme without having to meet new requirements.

Products intended to be marketed in the EU or moved under non-Northern Ireland retail scheme arrangements to the market in Northern Ireland will need to adopt the new harmonised arrangements, but DEFRA does not anticipate that that will cause major problems or add significantly to costs to NI traders.

Moreover, in line with the UK Government's commitment to ensuring that Northern Ireland traders have unfettered access to the rest of the UK internal market, the measures would not have any impact on the movement of qualifying Northern Ireland goods to Great Britain. Such goods would also continue to benefit from market access principles set out in the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 and enjoy unfettered access.

That concludes the DAERA presentation. We are happy to answer any questions.

The Chairperson (Ms Ferguson): Thank you, Samantha. Do members have any questions?

Mr Martin: Thank you, Samantha. When I say "Samantha", it could be either of you, I suppose. You answered one of my questions, towards the end, about Encirc, which is a bottling company in Fermanagh. You were pretty clear when you said that DAERA had reached out, had a conversation with Encirc and that it effectively does not bottle wine, so there is no impact.

Ms Swann: It has confirmed that all its bottling of wine takes place at its GB plants.

Mr Martin: OK. My other question is not particularly concerning GB-NI trade, but the last time that you were here giving evidence, you mentioned — and you brought it up again there — that the European Commission did not conduct an impact assessment because of the urgency in the particular area to get it done.

I will ask a question, and you can tell me whether it is beyond your scope to answer it. Sorry if this is a silly question, but how does the EU know about the level of impact if it decides not to conduct an impact assessment? How does the EU know how the legislation will affect people or whether it will change how they do business?

Ms Swann: Where they have a derogation not to carry out an impact assessment, they have to publish a staff working document that will look at the costs and benefits within three months of the publication. That has been published, so the information is in that.

Mr Brooks: Thanks your presentation. I have one question, which is around the potential for differences around how low- and no-alcohol products could be labelled. Are we sure that there is no potential for consumer awareness or safety issues?

Ms Swann: In what way?

Mr Brooks: Could there be potential safety issues if labelling here is different? I have an alcohol allergy, although it is not particularly severe, but if the labels here are different from labels elsewhere, is there any potential for confusion for consumers?

Ms Swann: The labels in Northern Ireland and the EU are already different from those in GB. At the minute, the EU uses the descriptor "dealcoholised". Great Britain has not legislated on that, so there are already differences, and stakeholders have not made us aware of any issues that it has caused.

Mr Brooks: Fair enough.

The Chairperson (Ms Ferguson): There are no further questions, so I thank Samantha Stewart and Samantha Swann for your presentation this morning.