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Minimum Unit Pricing for Alcohol May Not be a Proportionate Public Health Intervention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Oliver Bartlett
Oliver Bartlett*
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice
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Extract

Setting a minimum unit price for the sale of alcoholic beverages has been on the agenda of the Scottish government for many years. As far back as 1999 the then newly formed Scottish Government decided to review data on the use of alcohol that revealed trends in Scottish alcohol consumption such as the fact that in the two decades following 1994 alcohol sales went from being split equally between the on-trade and off-trade to the off-trade comprising around 70 per cent of sales. Further studies reveal that the affordability of alcohol throughout the whole United Kingdom increased steadily between 1987 and 2007, with duty increases frequently short of inflation, and with supermarkets continuing to use alcohol as a loss leader. The result has been an increase in the affordability of wines and beers by 129% and 153% respectively.

Type
Case Notes
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 218 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016

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References

1 Peter Rice, Why do health professions want Minimum Unit Price in Scotland’ (Scotland the Brave! Alcohol Policy in Scotland, 5th September 2014, Brussels), available on the Internet at <http://www.epha.org/IMG/pdf/mup-event-summary.pdf> (last accessed on 16 February 2016), at p. 2.

2 ibid, at p. 2.

3 Meier, Petra, ‘Polarized drinking patterns and alcohol deregulation’ 27 (5) Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (2010), pp. 383 et seqq., at p. 395Google Scholar.

4 ibid, at p. 396.

5 Heather Black et al, “The price of a drink: levels of consumption an price paidper unit of alcohol by Edinburgh's ill drinkers with a comparison to wider alcohol sales in Scotland” 106 Addiction (2010), pp. 729 et seqq., at p. 733.

6 ibid, at p. 734.

7 Petra Meier et al, Model-based appraisal of alcohol minimum pricing and off-licenced trade discount bans in Scotland using the Sheffield alcohol policy model (v2): - second update based on newly available data (University of Sheffield, 2012) available on the internet at <http://www.shef.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.156503!/file/scotlandjan.pdf> at p. 5.

8 ibid.

9 BBC News, ‘MSPs pass Alcohol Bill without minimum drink pricing’ (BBC News, 10 November 2010) available on the internet at <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-scotland-11719594> (last accessed 16 February 2016)

10 BBC News, ‘Scottish government reintroduces alcohol pricing bill’ (BBC News, 1 November 2011) available on the internet at <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-15525950> (last accessed 16 February 2016)

11 For further detail on the objections raised, see: Oliver Bartlett, ‘Distilling prospects: reflections of the proportionality of minimum unit pricing under EU law’ 1 European Journal of Risk Regulation [2014], pp. 73 et seqq.

12 Commission Communication SG (2012) D/52513.

13 The Scotch Whisky Association & Ors [2013] CSOH 70, para 81.

14 See: Aidan Robertson, ‘Minimum unit pricing for alcohol in the Court of Justice’ 4 European Journal of Risk Regulation [2014], pp. 459 et seqq.

15 Opinion of Advocate General Bot, delivered on 3 September 2015, in Case C-333/14 The Scotch Whisky Association and Others [2015] ECLI:EU:C:2015:527.

16 Case C-333/14 The Scotch Whisky Association and Others [2015] ECLI:EU:C:2015:845, para 28

17 Case C-8/74 Procureur du Roi v Dassonville [1974] ECLI:EU:C:1974:82

18 note 16, at paras 31-32

19 Case C-456/10 ANETT [2012] ECLI:EU:C:2012:241.

20 note 13, at para 33

21 Case C-2170/04 Rosengren and Others v Riksåklagaren [2007] ECLI:EU:C:2007:313

22 note 16, at para 35

23 note 16, at para 34

24 note 16, at para 34

25 note 16, at para 36.

26 note 16, at para 44

27 Chalmers, Jenny et al, ‘Real or perceived impediments to minimum pricing of alcohol in Australia: public opinion, the industry and the law’ 24(6) International Journal of Drug Policy (2013), pp. 517 et seqq CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

28 note 16, at para 45

30 note 16, at para 55

31 note 16, at para 47

32 note 16, at para 47

33 note 16, at para 50

34 Baumberg, Ben and Anderson, Peter, ‘Health, alcohol and EU law: understanding the impact of European single market law on alcohol policies’ 19(4) European Journal of Public Health (2008), pp. 392 et seqq CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Case C-405/98 Konsumentombudsmannen v Gourmet International Products [2001] ECLI:EU:C:2001:135.

36 note 16, at para 49

37 Case C-376/98 Germany v Parliament and Council [2000] ECLI:EU:C:2000:544