British wine merchants face explosive growth in paperwork when Britain leaves the European Union without a deal.

Wine entering the European Union from, for example, Chile or Australia must have a guarantee that it complies with European standards. Britain does not notice that much now, because the country imports wine from the European mainland.

After the Brexit, the country must carry out checks itself, also for European wines. The British wine trade organization thinks that for this purpose 500,000 additional forms must be completed annually for imported wine and another 150,000 for British wine that is exported.

The two-page forms must be filled in manually and additional payment must be made to have the paperwork checked. In addition, the wine must be tested for, among other things, the alcohol content, also at the expense of the importer. As a result, the sector would have lost an extra 81 million euros annually.