President Obama will sign an executive order that will significantly reduce the wait time for businesses exporting goods and services outside the USA. This will help New York winery efforts to enter foreign markets. New York wines are gaining international respect in the European market. The growing Chinese wine market also offers opportunities for sales growth of Finger Lakes wines.

Obama’s executive directive calls for completing the ongoing building of the International Trade Data System (ITDS) by December 2016 to allow businesses to electronically transmit the information currently being sent to dozens of separate agencies through a “single window,” saving several days of administrative and processing time. A White House statement concluded that “ITDS will dramatically reduce the time and expense for businesses to move goods across our borders each year.” This is welcome news for New York wineries facing saturation in the local market since these foreign markets offer growth potential for those wineries who pursue this new opportunity. Will your business be ready to take advantage of this new opportunity? If so, your to-do list includes contracting with a foreign distributor, label approvals, foreign wine export approvals, regulatory approvals, foreign trademark clearance and protection.