Import procedures for Georgian wines to Japan to be simplified

Import procedures for Georgian wines to Japan will be simplified, announces the Georgian National Wine Agency.

Four Georgian laboratories have been added to the list of foreign laboratories registered in Japan by the decision of the Japanese government.

Japanese customs used to check and certify Georgian wines, which added additional costs and procedural difficulties for Georgian wine importer companies. Eventually, it reflected on the cost of Georgian wine”, announced the Wine Agency.

The National Wine Agency applied to the Embassy of Georgia in Japan to solve the problem. The embassy requested a list of laboratories from Georgia which would be appropriate to register with the Japanese side. Afterwards, the diplomatic service of Japan held a consultation with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in order to officially register the laboratories provided by the Georgian side in all relevant Japanese organisations and structures”, the agency said.

After the negotiations and the specification of technical details, Japan added the following laboratories from the labs supplied by the Embassy of Georgia to the list of official foreign laboratories: Wine Laboratory, Norma, MultiTest and Expertise +.

Japan is one of the strategic export markets of Georgian wine, where over 130,000 bottles of wine have been exported in the first six months of 2018, which is 200 per cent higher than the same period last year.