(Wine Searcher) - Will dropping the personification of France from wine capsules make fraud easier?

The head of Marianne, the national symbol of the French republic, will no longer have to adorn the caps of French wine bottles following a decree published earlier this month.

According to the decree of June 12, the symbol, an indication that excise duty on a bottle of wine has been paid and known as the Representative Capsule of Duty (CRD), will no longer be required on a bottle of wine as of June 2019.

The CRD was brought in by the French government in 1960 and covered all wine bottles and containers up to 3 liters. It enabled customs officials in France to ensure that duties on the wine had been paid and dispensed with the need for any accompanying documentation.

However, after a year-long consultation with the stakeholders in the French wine sector, the French customs body decided that, with the changes in record-keeping since the mid 20th Century, the CRD could be dispensed with, not least because the CRD was not required for exports.

According to Regis Cornu, a representative of the Customs Office, this effectively forced producers to have two bottling lines, one for export and one for the CRD.