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As far as I am aware, New Zealand asked for this during the negotiations primarily to benefit some of the smaller producers that provide mainly for the home market at the moment but could see an opportunity to export to the UK.

Thanks for inviting me to speak about the regulations. On 28 February last year, the United Kingdom signed a free trade agreement with New Zealand. During negotiations, the UK committed to making three minor changes to domestic legislation on how wine and other alcoholic drinks are described and marketed.

The Scottish Government remains of the view that the best option for the UK as a whole and for Scotland is the one that Scotland voted for—that is, remaining in the European Union. The Scottish Government’s default position is to align with EU law where appropriate and where that is in Scotland’s interests. However, as a responsible Government, we are required to observe and implement the United Kingdom’s international obligations. The instrument is required to implement the New Zealand free trade agreement.

The changes that are set out in the instrument will bring some flexibilities to how wine and other alcoholic drinks can be labelled and marketed. However, it will not impact on the practices that are currently employed by producers and traders, who can continue to label and market as they currently do.

The changes allow producers and sellers of wine and other alcoholic drinks slightly more flexibility in respect of the information that they choose to include on their labels. The instrument will make three changes to retained EU law.

First, the instrument will allow any wine product to show alcoholic strength to one decimal place—for example, the strength could be 12.2 per cent or 12.7 per cent. Retained EU law currently limits wine to being labelled to show alcoholic strength to whole or half units—for example, 12 per cent or 12.5 per cent. That will continue to remain a possibility for wine that is marketed here or exported.

The concession to label wine to a single decimal place is not new. That possibility was already extended to Australian wines by the EU in its wine trade agreement with Australia, which the UK retained after exit.

The instrument will also introduce a change to rules concerning the labelling of grape varieties for wine that is marketed in Great Britain. It will require that, where more than one grape variety is listed on a wine label, the named varieties must total at least 95 per cent of the content of the wine. Current retained EU legislation requires that to be 100 per cent. The changes will mean that up to 5 per cent of the content may consist of varieties that are not shown on the label.

The changes that are proposed in the instrument will provide businesses that market and produce wine of multiple grape varieties with the scope to vary the production of a wine, to bring improved consistency and quality. UK domestic wine producers have warmly welcomed the flexibility that that will bring.

The regulations will also allow flexibility in how the terms “alc”, or alcohol, and “vol”, or volume, appear with the numerical alcohol content on wine and other alcoholic beverages. The current rules require that “alc” appears before the numerical alcohol content of the drink and “vol” after. The instrument will allow the term “alc” to appear after the numerical alcohol content of the drink.

Together, those changes will facilitate the trade between the UK and New Zealand. They may also help smaller producers in both countries who might wish to exploit a niche for their product in the market but for whom the size of the order would mean a full label change that would not be economically viable.

I stress that the changes are optional. We expect that many in the industry with established markets in Northern Ireland and/or the EU will continue to label and market wine as they currently do to support sales in those markets.

The Scottish Government consented to a Great Britain-wide consultation seeking views from stakeholders in the sector and more widely on the proposal, and the UK wine industry firmly supports the changes set out in this instrument and welcomes the flexibility that it provides.

I hope that I have said enough to assure members of the need for this instrument. It represents just one part of the changes being made that will allow the new free trade agreement with New Zealand to come into force, but in making those changes we have taken the opportunity to give our thriving wine and alcoholic drinks sector flexibility that will support it to trade in the future.

Finally, the instrument also amends article 11 of retained regulation (EU) 543/2011 to correct a minor error that is contained in regulation 5(5) of the Agriculture (Retained EU Law and Data) (Scotland) Act 2020 (Consequential Modifications) and Agricultural Products, Aquatic Animal Health and Genetically Modified Organisms (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022. I am happy to take any questions that the committee might have.

There is what is set out in the Government’s legislative programme, obviously. You will have seen the debate on the legislative consent motion that took place in the Parliament yesterday, and this instrument is coming forward, but I will ask Kevin Matheson to say whether we expect any more, particularly in relation to food and drink.

It also provides more clarity and transparency on the percentage of alcohol, which the lower-alcohol-volume producers have also welcomed. Other varieties can be used to up the consistency of the wine product, but producers on both sides have welcomed that.

I also point out that, in its negotiations with New Zealand, the EU is looking at similar changes with greater flexibility with regard to, for example, the percentage of the grape variety that should be on the label.

Discussions between the UK Government and the Scottish Government on retained EU law are on-going. We had a meeting with the UK Government and the other devolved Administrations at the start of the week. Retained EU law is an on-going issue, and we continue to have those discussions to see what the impacts will be. I have not raised the member’s specific point, which relates to the Shark Fins Bill. As I said, it is an on-going process.

Active shark finning has been banned in the UK since 2003, and we have a “fins naturally attached” policy in relation to that. Throughout that time, the personal import of shark fins has still been permitted. There has a been a 20kg allowance in relation to imports, and that is what the bill will draw to an end. We do not think that there has been a tremendous amount of trade in that time. As far as I am aware, since 2017, across the UK there has been much movement, but it is important that the loophole is closed, which is exactly what the bill seeks to do.

On your second point, there are some exemptions in the bill, but they apply only in cases when the act of importing a product that contains shark fins or a shark fin is for the benefit of conservation of the species. That is the only case in which such products would be permitted to enter the country.

I would have to look into that in more detail, but that will be covered by the import ban. I could not give you an idea of the scale of that trade. Again, my officials might have further information on the specifics of that question.

That is why the import ban covers shark fins and things containing shark fins.

Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to speak about the Shark Fins Bill and the associated legislative consent motion. Shark finning is the practice of removing fins from a shark at sea and returning the finless body to the water. The Shark Fins Bill is intended to ban the import and export of shark fins that have been obtained using that cruel practice.

It is a private member’s bill that was introduced by Christina Rees MP in June 2022. The bill passed the committee stage in the House of Commons on 16 November with broad cross-party support, and I understand that it passed its third reading in the United Kingdom Parliament last week and is now due to be considered by the House of Lords.

It is right that we maintain the ban on shark finning practices in Scottish waters and ban the import and export of detached shark fins or things containing them.

I was pleased that we were able to secure an amendment to ensure that appeals against certain decisions of the Scottish ministers relating to exemption certificates and final penalty notices are to be made to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland rather than the UK-wide First-tier Tribunal, which deals with reserved matters. The amendment reflects that those matters fall within devolved competence. I understand that there has been constructive working between my officials and officials in the other fisheries Administrations throughout the bill process, which is on-going, to ensure that there is that co-ordination on the implementation and ultimately the enforcement of the bill.

I am really pleased to recommend supporting the bill, as it aligns with key Scottish Government priorities, including reversing biodiversity loss and enhancing marine environmental protection. The bill also reaffirms Scotland’s firm commitment to animal welfare and ensures that we speak with greater credibility when we are advocating for shark conservation on the global stage. That is why I have recommended the legislative consent motion on the bill.