Month: January 2017

Businesses involved in the wine industry in British Columbia should take note that BC\’s new Liquor Control & Licensing Act and associated Regulation became effective on January 23, 2017. Links to the new statute and regulation are contained on this page of the LCLB\’s new web site: Legislation and Regulation. To support the new Act & Regs, the LCLB has also released new Terms & Conditions Guides for licensees. The new guide for wineries is here: Manufacturer\’s TAC Guide. There are also new guides for other categories of licensee here: TAC Guides. 

These new laws will be the subject of sessions at the upcoming BC Wine & Liquor Law Conference, to be held in Vancouver on February 14th. Wine industry attendees can obtain a reduced registration fee by changing the rate on the registration page to \”wine industry rate\”. 

The United States Trade Representative has announced this morning that the Obama administration has launched a trade enforcement action at the WTO against BC\’s wine in grocery store model. The details of the challenge are contained in this press release: United States Challenges Canadian Trade Measures That Discriminate Against U.S. Wine. The basis of the action is that BC\’s \”regular shelves\” grocery model discriminates against imported wines by allowing the sale of BC wines on regular grocery shelves but only permitting the sale of imported wines in a separate \”store within a store\” model. We will provide an update on this issue at the upcoming Wine & Liquor Law Conference in Vancouver on February 14th.

Details of the 2017 BC Wine & Liquor Law Conference are now available from the organizer\’s web site: Law Seminars Wine Law Conference. The agenda should be fascinating with sessions on BC\’s brand new Liquor Control & Licensing Act (taking effect later this month), as well as a review of the new legislation\’s effect on industry and local government, discussion of wine labeling requirements, an update on interprovincial shipping and the effects of national trends in liquor law reform.

There is a discounted registration fee for those who work in the BC wine or liquor industry. This reduced $300 USD rate is now available by going to the conference registration page, selecting the \”Rate\” drop down box and changing it from \”Regular\” to \”Wine Industry Member\”. The registration fee will then change to $300.