BREAKING NEWS - Scotland – Minimum Pricing Supreme Court dismisses appeal – victory for the Scottish Government

The long running saga over the Scottish Government’s intention to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol of 50p has today been the subject of another key decision.

In May 2013, the Court of Session in Edinburgh determined that minimum pricing measures challenged by numerous bodies (including the Scotch Whisky Association) were “not incompatible with EU law”, a decision which was appealed all the way to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

In December 2015, the ECJ ruled that minimum unit pricing could be legal if it could be shown that no other mechanisms capable of achieving the desired result of protecting health were available, giving the example of increased taxation on alcoholic drinks. Further details of the ECJ’s ruling can be found in our previous article here. This ruling was referred back to Scotland’s Court of Session for a ‘final’ decision on this matter.

In October 2016, the Court of Session ruled against the Scotch Whisky Association, stating:

"The advantage of the proposed minimum pricing system, so far as protecting health and life was concerned, was that it was linked to the strength of the alcohol.

"Current EU tax arrangements related to different types of product (wine, spirits, beer and cider etc) each of which had a range of alcohol strength....there was evidence which demonstrated that the alternative of increased tax, with or without a prohibition on below cost sales, would be less effective than minimum pricing.

That decision was appealed and heard by the Supreme Court in July 2017 with their decision being handed down today to dismiss the appeal, some 5+ years after the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 received Royal Assent.

The consequences of this decision will also affect England and Wales as Ministers of the Welsh National Assembly were previously reported as keen to bring in a minimum unit price for alcohol of 50p.

Further, the Government recently stated in its response to the recommendations of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Licensing Act 2003 that minimum pricing “remains under review”. However, even with today’s important development legislation to this effect would not be anticipated before Brexit.