WOWGR is getting an update. As of March 3 2025 the Warehousekeepers and Owners of Warehoused Goods Regulations 1999 will be heavily modified and essentially become just the Warehousekeepers Regulations. Up until then it will be business as usual, but here’s what you need to know in relation to any current or future whisky cask investments.
What Was WOWGR?
Until March 2025 WOWGR covers all revenue traders (businesses) who hold casks in a warehouse. Importantly there is already a section that excludes non-revenue traders (private individuals) so as long as they weren’t trading in whisky, private individuals could hold a small number of casks in their name at a warehouse without being covered by WOWGR. Any business that wanted to own casks had to register under the various different sections of WOWGR.
It takes a long time to get a WOWGR and requires some level of certification, and so some businesses used it as a kind of assurance to their customers. Unfortunately in its old form it was open to misinterpretation and some companies used WOWGR as a reason to not transfer ownership of casks at the warehouse level.
Send me my free cask buying guide
"*" indicates required fields
What Are The Changes To WOWGR in 2025?
Essentially the “OWG” sections are being removed so it’s just warehousekeepers who can be certified. “Owners of Warehoused Goods” will no longer be included in the regulations.
“The clock will be re-set to October 1999 since there was never any justification for the “ownership” part of the regulations, which were conceived in error by what was HMCE,” explained Alan Powell, who has been instrumental in instigating the changes that will be introduced in 2025. “The change to the regulations that I have been campaigning for the last few years will remove the disproportionate impositions for beer and spirits, which were also always in breach of (retained) EU law and are obviously discriminatory—alcohol products being treated differently for no objective reason.”
You can see the full list of future amendments here, but as yet the official WOWGR Statutory Instrument page remains unchanged.
“As with all goods that were never subject to WOWGR, one can trade goods in warehouse freely, but with “standard” obligations.” Standard obligations refers to the other Statutory notices that govern warehouses, namely Notice 196 and197, and Powell notes these will also need amending to “remove references to obligations under WOWGR.”
What Do WOWGR Changes Mean For Existing Cask Owners?
That depends on how you own your cask. If you have purchased through Mark Littler Ltd or any other company who sells casks via a delivery order then the changes just mean that now you have no limit on the number of casks that you can buy and sell. Previously the need to not be classed as a revenue trader meant that UK based cask owners could not own more than five casks via a delivery order. It also meant you couldn’t regularly buy and sell casks for profit (we still do not recommend short term cask investment or flipping casks).
If you own your cask through a WOWGR registered dealer who had previously told you that you cannot get a delivery order without registering under WOWGR then you may want to approach them. Unless they are a warehousekeeper then all WOWGR certificates will be meaningless from March 2025, and technically they will be able to inform the warehouse of your direct ownership without worry.
Powell explains: “Where a broker of cask spirits is WOWGR registered as an owner or duty rep and holds those casks “under trust” or bailment or other variation on a theme for the beneficial owner, the broker will need to notify the warehousekeeper who is the owner (ie the person who has correct legal title) if this is not already known to the warehousekeeper.”
It is likely however that they/you will still need to set up an account at a warehouse in order to transfer a cask or casks into your name. Whether the warehouse is willing to do that will be down to the individual warehouse.
You may also wish to continue under your existing setup, and Powell suggests: “I suppose such brokers might wish to continue to act as non-formal agent for the owner (per Roman law) to deal with admin matters with the warehousekeeper.”
Warehousing Limitations
The fact remains that many warehouses stopped opening new accounts for non-WOWGR certified private individuals because of the additional work involved in managing private customers. There has never been a barrier for private individuals buying a small number of casks directly other than finding a warehouse willing to open an account.
While WOWGR might have changed, whether all warehouses will now be willing to take on private customers remains to be seen. There are warehouses that will open private accounts but whether they will be able to meet the likely uptick in demand remains to be seen.
Ongoing Concerns
It is good news that unscrupulous dealers will no longer be able to hide behind WOWGR as a reason why they won’t transfer full ownership. It is also positive for stimulation within the whisky cask investment market that customers are now able to buy casks through a business.
On the reverse side, the removal of the (albeit slim) barrier presented by WOWGR to unscrupulous businesses looking to set up as cask dealers is now gone. In addition to the potential additional admin of managing hundreds of customer accounts versus the handful of dealer accounts, the removal of WOWGR puts further pressures on warehouses as the responsibility for vetoing businesses will now fall to them. As such, consumers looking to enter the cask investment market need to remain vigilant.
There is still a real threat to the reputation of the scotch whisky industry presented by unregulated whisky cask investments. It was addressed in Scottish Parliament earlier this year, and hopefully this next step will buoy more action from within.
