Scotland – Minimum Pricing - Court of Session decision

The long running saga over the Scottish Government’s intention to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol of 50p (opposed by the Scotch Whisky Association) may finally be drawing to a close.

In December 2015, the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) ruling was referred back to Scotland’s Court of Session for a ‘final’ decision and further details of the ECJ’s ruling can be found in our previous article here. In brief, 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.

The Court of Session has today ruled against the Scotch Whisky Association, reported to have stated:

"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."

Although a victory for the Scottish Government, the Court’s ruling could still be subject to an appeal to the UK Supreme Court.