Three states have added fulfillment house requirements for DTC shippers this year, bringing the total number of states with these requirements to sixteen. The requirements vary. Some states have established licenses or registrations for fulfillment houses; others require specific reports and/or records from the services; another group simply requires DTC shippers to inform them what fulfillment service they use. Here are the new requirements for Maine, Nevada and Wisconsin for DTC shippers: A new law in Maine requires fulfillment providers to register each address from which they ship with the ME Bureau of Alcohol Beverages and Lottery Operations (BABLO). The law also mandates quarterly reporting of wine shipments by direct shippers, fulfillment providers, and common carriers beginning January 1, 2025. The agency only recently began accepting registration applications when its new online licensing system BELLS went live on October 28. Going forward, wineries shipping to consumers in Ma

There’s good news for alcoholic beverage suppliers shipping to Maine wholesalers or consumers who have been struggling with the state’s ownership disclosure requirements. The Maine legislature has passed LD 2069, a bill amending a provision in the state’s licensing law that has been a problem for suppliers as well as the regulators charged with enforcing the requirements. Early in 2023 Maine’s alcohol regulatory agency re-interpreted the state’s licensing law and began requiring 100% disclosure of a company’s ownership before approving a new license or renewing an existing one. Personal data had to be provided for every owner, in the entire ownership chain, no matter how small their interest. Some companies found it impossible to comply with this stricter interpretation and were unable to renew their ME licenses. They have been able to continue shipping to their Maine customers only by periodically requesting and obtaining temporary extensions

Last December the Wisconsin legislature passed a major bill, SB 268, which will affect DTC shipments to the state in several ways. The most timely change is the addition of a wine-of-own-production requirement, effective May 1, 2024. Beginning in May, DTC shipments to Wisconsin will be limited to wine “manufactured or bottled by the permittee.”  SB 268 also enacted problematic new laws establishing licenses and reporting requirements for common carriers and fulfillment houses, scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2025. An amendment easing the requirements for carriers was signed into law March 22 after strong lobbying efforts by the major carriers and The Wine Institute. The fulfillment house requirements remain troublesome, but there’s still time for them to be adjusted before the end of the year.  Meanwhile, the wine-of-own-production requirement is in the law to stay, so wineries shipping to WI consumers need to adjust their offerings to comply beginni

The Alaska Alcohol & Marijuana Office (AMCO) has determined that DTC shippers do not need to comply with one of the troublesome requirements for shipping to Alaska customers: Manufacturer Direct Shipper Licensees do not need to consult the “prohibited person” list before fulfilling an order. Direct Shipment Licensees may not ship to areas where a “local option” law restricts sales of alcohol, so wineries and distilleries must make sure to avoid shipments to customers in those areas. AMCO provides a list of zip codes of the communities with local option restrictions on sales of alcohol. That list is publicly available on the AMCO website. More good news: The Alaska Department of Revenue has ruled that holders of a Manufacturer Direct Shipment License are exempt from the $25,000 bond requirement. No bond is needed for a Manufacturer Direct Shipment License. In addition, AMCO is moving forward with rulemaking to adopt simplified requirements for the verificati

Effective November 21, 2023, the New Mexico Alcoholic Beverage Control no longer includes registration with the Secretary of State as a requirement for out-of-state corporations to renew their NM Direct Wine Shipment Permit. The Secretary of State requirement, which the ABC announced last summer, increased the cost of shipping wine to consumers in NM. The annual fee for the ABC permit is only $50, but the new requirement added not only the SOS registration fee but also the annual expenses of maintaining an agent for service of process in the state, submitting annual reports, and paying New Mexico franchise taxes. Any winery that registered with the NM Secretary of State following last summer’s announcement can now withdraw the registration, effective November 21, 2023, to avoid further expenses connected with the registration. For a demonstration of The Digest, view the video, or contact us to schedule a live screen-share demo. Visit our website or give us a call: 800-400-1353

Alaska’s new Manufacturer Direct Shipment license goes into effect January 1, 2024. The AMCO plans to start accepting online applications later this month. Even though the new license may be possible to obtain soon, new regulations governing the license impose a number of requirements that make the fulfillment of orders very difficult. The regulations as currently written require direct shipment licensees to do the following: Obtain and retain a copy of ID documents that show the photograph and signature of the purchaser and any other individual authorized to receive the shipment and deliver it to the purchaser; Determine whether the purchaser’s name is on the list of prohibited persons provided by AMCO to all package store and DTC licensees, and if so, reject the order; Ensure that the written or electronic order is signed and dated by the purchaser and refers by number to the purchaser’s ID document; If your company meets the sales threshold for sales tax nexus i

Many alcoholic beverage manufacturers have been looking forward to getting Alaska’s new DTC license, which goes into effect January 1, 2024. Due to both regulatory and technical issues, we are anticipating significant delays in obtaining that license, causing out-of-state producers to lose the ability to ship direct to Alaska consumers for the foreseeable future. Currently, anyone can ship “a reasonable amount” of alcoholic beverages to Alaska residents—no license or reporting required. That privilege ends January 1, when it is replaced by the new AK Manufacturer Direct Shipping License. We have been closely tracking the availability of the AK DTC license. We have learned that the state’s online licensing system does not yet accept applications from out-of-state companies, and it is not clear when the system will take an application for this license. In addition, the state has adopted regulations governing DTC shipping that impose requirements that are