Submit brand information for verified spirit drinks
Find out how to submit brand details to HMRC for Scotch Whisky, Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream, Irish Poteen, Somerset Cider Brandy and Single Malt Welsh Whisky if you're a verified bottler.
Who should submit brand information
Once your product has been verified under the Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme, verified bottlers, re-bottlers and re-labellers should submit brand information to HMRC. Each facility linked to the bottling and labelling of the brand will need its own brand application.
If a brand is labelled by a separate labeller, rather than a bottler who also carries out the labelling, the labeller should submit the brand details.
Brand owners should check that this information is correct, particularly the spelling of brand names, as HMRC will publish the details provided to us.
HMRC will only publish details of the brand owner and the brand name, not the bottler. The details of the bottler are for internal use only.
Single Malt Welsh Whisky is required to be bottled and labelled in Wales.
What you’ll need
When requested to do so by the Spirit Drinks Verification Unit, verified bottlers will need to confirm the:
- brand name
- brand owner
HMRC only require the ‘umbrella’ description of a brand, but will publish the description provided by brand owners through the bottler and labeller. However, a specific brand would be separately identified on HMRC’s look-up service where a brand ceases to be verified but other versions of the same brand are not affected.
How to submit brand information
Verified bottlers must submit brand information online.
If a brand is bottled or labelled by more than one bottler or labeller, every bottler or labeller of the brand should submit this information.
After you’ve submitted brand information
Once a brand has been verified, HMRC will publish details about the brand’s name and owner on the look-up service. This provides a public record of verified brands and lets consumers, importers and overseas authorities check a brand’s verification status.
HMRC will not publish details of the bottler or identify which bottler bottles which brand. This is because independent bottlers or labellers may supply many customers with own label products and:
- this information may be commercially sensitive
- the bottler or labeller, and their customers, may not want these details available to competitors
For own brand Scotch whiskies, it is anticipated that the brand owner will be the brand owner or proprietor identified on the published details.
Verifying short-lived brands, such as anniversary bottling
HMRC does not publish an expiry date for verified brands.
The verified status of brands is solely dependent on whether the processes used to create them were, or remain, compliant. Some brands are potentially ‘collectors’ items’ and may be traded beyond any intended expiry date.
However, where a brand is sold to another producer or production ceases, the brand owner or proprietor may apply to us to have a brand removed from the list of verified brands attributable to him.
HMRC will list all verified brands on the look-up service. Where we are notified that a brand is no longer produced, the list will show a ‘cessation date’ against the brand. This does not mean that the brand is not a genuine product or that it has not been verified, simply that it is no longer produced.
Assuring that brands originate from compliant processes
Using information obtained during verification visits, HMRC will trace the movement of the spirit drinks back through the supply chain, making sure that the spirit drink is moved between production facilities operating assured processes. For this reason it is advisable for operators to check published details, as they become available, to make sure that:
- any product described as Scotch Whisky, Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream, Irish Poteen, Somerset Cider Brandy or Single Malt Welsh Whisky is received from a production facility with assured processes
- where the final product is intended to be described as Scotch Whisky, Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream, Irish Poteen, Somerset Cider Brandy or Single Malt Welsh Whisky it is despatched to a production facility with assured processes
If a single brand is bottled or labelled by more than one bottler or labeller
HMRC recognise that ‘own brand’ products may be produced using more than one bottler or labeller, and that one bottler or labeller is unlikely to be aware of another production facility bottling or labelling the same branded product.
If a single brand is produced through more than one bottler or labeller, all production processes will be required to be verified as compliant with the relevant Technical File in order to retain the brand’s verified status and inclusion on the published list. All bottlers would be required to notify us of the brands they bottle together with the relevant proprietor details.
HMRC recognise that this means that some compliant product, affected by the non-compliant status of another process, may not be recorded as verified in published details. However, this is considered necessary and proportionate as HMRC is unable to verify individual branded products with certainty if the failure of any part of the production processes compromises the verified status of an individual brand.
More information
Brands not appearing on the look-up service will either not have been verified or may not have been notified to HMRC. This means the brand may not be legally marketed.
If you think that a verified brand has been omitted from the published details by mistake you should contact the Spirit Drinks Verification Unit by email at enquiries.sdvs@hmrc.gov.uk to raise your concern. This will enable the circumstances to be investigated and, if necessary, corrective action taken.
Last updated 21 August 2023 + show all updates
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Page updated to include references to Single Malt Welsh Whisky.
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First published.