Tax and Trade Bureau

The U.S. Treasury Department agency that oversees enforcement of alcohol-related legislation. Some wine-related areas that the Tax and Trade Bureau controls in this capacity are winery licensing, regulation of wine label content, and the petitioning and approval process for avas. The Tax and Trade Bureau assumed these functions from the batf (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) toward the end of 2002, when the Homeland Security Act of 2002 was passed. Under this Act the BATF (yet to be renamed at this writing) was transferred to the Justice Department and continues with its other responsibilities for firearms, explosives, arson, and criminal enforcement.