Scotland – Minimum Unit Pricing European Ruling

In September 2015, we reported on the Advocate General’s initial opinion on the legality of the introduction of a Minimum Unit Price (MUP) for alcohol in Scotland.

In brief, the Advocate General confirmed that MUP risked infringing the principle of free movement of goods and would only be legal if it could be shown that no other mechanism was capable of achieving the desired result of protecting public health. That opinion can be found here.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has now effectively (and not surprisingly) confirmed their agreement with the Advocate General’s opinion, reportedly stating:

"The Court of Justice considers that the effect of the Scottish legislation is significantly to restrict the market, and this might be avoided by the introduction of a tax measure designed to increase the price of alcohol instead of a measure imposing a minimum price per unit of alcohol….The Court states that it is ultimately for the national court to determine whether measures other than that provided for by the Scottish legislation, such as increased taxation on alcoholic drinks, are capable of protecting human life and health as effectively as the current legislation, while being less restrictive of trade in those products within the EU."

The ECJ’s ruling will now be referred back to Scotland’s Court of Session for a final decision.

There is no timescale for this, but we shall , as always keep you updated!