TTB Affected By USA Partial Government Shutdown

The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau [TTB] agency, which is responsible for licensing and label approval of alcohol products in the US, including spirits, is currently partially shutdown due to the ongoing partial shutdown of the USA government.

The federal agency, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Treasury, has created a temporary landing page on their website stating alcohol companies can still access the TTB site to make payments, submit labels or formulas, and to file other operational reports but that the “TTB will suspend all non-excepted TTB operations, and no personnel will be available to respond to any inquiries, including emails, telephone calls, facsimiles, or other communications. The website and operations will fully resume when appropriations are re-enacted. TTB has directed employees not to report to work and they are prohibited by federal law from volunteering their services during a lapse in appropriations. Once funding has been restored and the government shutdown is over, we will work to restore regular service as soon as possible.”

The US government is currently in its 12th day of a partial shutdown that started on December 22, 2018.