The Scottish Parliament in 2012 voted in favor of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol, to try and regulate against cheap alcohol being sold, in an effort to clamp down on binge drinking. However, the Scotch Whisky Association took the Scottish Advocate General to the European Court of Justice claiming the move — which would have set a minimum limit of 76 cents per unit of alcohol — breached EU free trade laws.
We welcome the Advocate General’s opinion on minimum unit pricing (#MUP) of alcohol. See our full statement here; http://t.co/iq9Mv5VUXg
— Scotch Whisky Assoc. (@ScotchWhiskySWA) September 3, 2015
They were strongly backed by nine other EU countries, including France and Spain who are enormous producers of wines. The European Union is the world's leader in wine production, with almost half of the global vine-growing area and about 60 percent of production by volume. Italy, France, and Spain are the largest EU wine producing countries, representing 80 percent of total output.
Ruling Welcomed Across Europe
In a legal opinion handed down Thursday, the Advocate General to the European Court of Justice, Yves Bot said that the European Commission maintains that a system of minimum prices, could undermine the Single Common Market Organization (CMO).
Get the facts behind @ScotchWhiskySWA opposition to #MUP after the welcome ECJ opinion published today http://t.co/pfBlVmhdlo
— Graeme Littlejohn (@littlegrumpyG) September 3, 2015
He said it would either preventing operators from taking full advantage of the competitive advantages encouraged by a less interventionist CMO, or "by having an impact on the 'delicate web of support programs to farmers' which are dependent, in part, on factors which depend on the ultimate consumer demand for the products of the vineyards, which is directly influenced by the retail price.
"In the Commission's submission, if the MUP system were valid, and were then adopted in several Member States, the legislative assumption of the current 'single CMO' regulation, based on a balanced supply and demand structure where prices are the result of market forces, would be ineffective."
David Frost, Scotch Whisky Association chief executive, told Sputnik:
"We welcome the Advocate General's opinion on minimum unit pricing of alcohol. The opinion encourages us in our long-held view that MUP is illegal when there are less trade restrictive measures available."
"It remains important to address alcohol misuse with a range of other measures of proven effectiveness. We will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders on this. There is a long-term trend of falling alcohol-related deaths and harms in Scotland which suggests that measures in place are working."
Although Advocate General Bot has issued his legal opinion, it is normal course for the European Court of Justice to follow his legal advice when final judgement is handed down.
