The facts about Bill C-311 Interprovincial Wine

What Bill C-311 does:

• Bill C-311 removes federal restrictions on individuals importing wine from one Canadian jurisdiction to another and allows the provinces to set personal importation limits.
• Bill C-311 does not give a winery in one province or territory the ability to ship wine directly to a consumer in another province or territory - each province determines those rules.
  

BC's personal liquor importation limits:

• The Province of British Columbia enacted changes to enhance the movement of wine across provincial boundaries for personal use on June 7, 2012.
• As a result, B.C. residents can now bring back up to one case of wine, four bottles of spirits, and a combined total of six dozen beer, cider and coolers on their person from other provinces.  Those amounts equal nine litres of wine, three litres of spirits, and a combined total of 25.6 litres of beer, cider and coolers per trip.
• All provinces and territories that allow personal importation from other provinces have similar restrictions on importation of liquor for personal use.
  

Next steps:

• As a result of the regulation changes, B.C.'s personal importation limits now align with other jurisdictions in Canada.
• We are prepared to lead discussions with other provinces and territories to consider further changes, including direct shipping without incoming jurisdictional taxes. However, each jurisdiction is accountable for its own decision-making.
  

Direct shipping of wine:

• No jurisdiction allows the direct shipping without incoming taxes at this time. Any changes to allow direct shipping need to be done in consultation and partnership with all Canadian jurisdictions.
• The direct shipment from a winery to a customer is something regulated by the province in which the customer resides. 
• The province of British Columbia is prepared to begin negotiations with other provinces regarding direct shipping as soon as possible.

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