Proposals to size standards for small businesses in the USA could change breweries are treated, the Brewers Association has said.

The organisation has addressed proposed substantial amendments by the Small Business Administration (SBA) but added that it doesn’t expect these changes to “materially change” the competitive landscape for small and independent breweries.

In a recent post Marc Sorini, vice president of government affairs at the Brewers Association, explained that the SBA now proposes two notable sets of changes to its size-standard system. 

First, it proposes to simplify the system by applying size standards at broader 4- and 5-digit NAICS levels rather than generally at the 6-digit level. 

According to SBA, this would reduce the number of separate size standards from 978 to 338, a reduction of about 65%.

The SBA has also generally proposed to expand the threshold for “small” to include somewhat larger firms. 

These changes vary from sector to sector. In some cases, mostly for service-oriented businesses, thresholds currently based on average annual receipts would be changed to thresholds based on average number of employees.

However, the Brewers Association anticipates that any changes to have a minimal impact on the US brewing landscape.

Sorini added: “The Brewers Association does not view the proposal as materially changing the position of small breweries. 

“Moreover, because SBA focuses on business issues and not specific alcohol policies (unlike, for example, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau), applying the same SBA size standard to breweries and other beverage manufacturers does not give rise to any readily apparent dangers for our membership.”