The legal frame of winemaking in Georgia
The wine business in Georgia is not regulated by a single law: its legal frame unites several interconnected regimes. The central place belongs to the Code on Food/Animal Feed Safety, which determines the status of the business operator, the rules of labelling and the mechanisms of state control; the National Wine Agency is the specialized institution for the control of alcoholic beverages. This page explains what obligations a winemaker has at the stages of registration, labelling, control and export-import.
Registration as a business operator and recognition
The first step for every winemaker is the formalization of status. A business operator is obliged to carry out the registration of the relevant activity in the register of economic activities according to the procedure established by the legislation. In the case of the commencement, cessation of the activity and/or any change of registered data connected with it, the operator must apply to the National Agency of the Public Registry in order to make the change. Activity of a business operator without registration is prohibited — this rule applies to every participant of the wine industry.
Registration is complemented by the institution of recognition: recognition is mandatory for a business operator whose activity is connected with food of animal origin and certain other spheres, including those determined by a government resolution. Recognition is carried out by the agency according to the results of inspection, in accordance with the procedure approved by the government, and activity of an operator subject to recognition without recognition is prohibited. For food of animal origin the statute names exceptions requiring no recognition: family production, primary production, traditional methods, non-factory production in a high-mountain region, and direct supply to the final consumer by a small-business operator. The agency is also authorized, at the operator’s request, to recognize an activity not subject to mandatory recognition.
The labelling rules
Before wine is sold, the label is a decisive legal document. Under the code, food intended for sale, animals, plants, animal and plant products and other production must be labelled as the government prescribes. Wine and other alcoholic beverages of grape origin, however, are subject to a special rule — they must be labelled in accordance with the Law of Georgia on Vine and Wine. The conformity of a label with the requirements is established during state control.
One clear prohibition is especially significant: it is impermissible to indicate on the label of food or in an accompanying document any combination of the terms biological, ecological, eco, bio or organic, if the product does not conform to the bio-production rules established by the government and this conformity is not confirmed by a conformity certificate. A claim to organic wine without a certificate is prohibited by law.