The APEC Model Wine Export Certificate
For years, wine exporters navigating Asia Pacific markets faced a maze of inconsistent documentation and repetitive certifications
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Wine Regulatory Forum (APEC WRF) was an eight-year public private partnership between the 21 Asian Pacific governments and wine industry—heavily influenced by FIVS and its members— that ended in 2018, but its outputs continue to positively impact the global wine trade.
The APEC Model Wine Certificate was a key output of the APEC WRF that continues to be used by governments and industry in the region.
The purpose of this certificate is to help streamline the process for wine exports to the APEC region by consolidating existing certificate requirements into a single certificate usable across the region. The APEC Model Wine Certificate is a multi-purpose certificate used for Certificates of Authenticity/Free Sale, Certificates of Health/Sanitation, and Certificates of Origin. It remains a clear example of the kind of pragmatic, science based policy outcomes that FIVS has long championed.
The WRF sought to educated government regulators about the low risk profile of wine and science was a decisive factor in securing regulatory support. The paper “Microbiologically, wine is a low food safety risk consumer product[JF1] ”, to which several FIVS members contributed, demonstrated that wine about 7% ABV has inherent characteristics (alcohol, high acidity, and other natural components) that make wine a consumer product with a low microbiological safety risk- enabling regulators to shift scarce government resources away from unnecessary wine testing and towards higher risk food categories.
