Alcohol pricing decision due next week

Final judgment will be given next week on the legality of the Scottish Parliament's attempt to legislate for a minimum price for alcohol.

The UK Supreme Court will rule on 15 November on whether the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 is incompatible with European Union law and therefore unlawful under the Scotland Act 1998.

Scottish ministers propose to make an order under the Act specifying a minimum retail price of 50p per unit of alcohol, but the Scotch Whisky Association and other bodies representing alcohol producers claim that minimum unit pricing is disproportionate as a matter of EU law, operates as a quantitative restriction on the free movement of goods and impacts on the proper functioning of the Common Agricultural Policy's Common Market Organisation on the production, marketing and sale of wine.

They argue that alternative pricing measures such as taxation exist, which would be less disruptive of free trade and less distortive of competition across the EU single market, and would have at least an equivalent level of effectiveness in achieving the aim of the Scottish Government to improve public health.

These claims were rejected in the Outer House of the Court of Session, and by the Inner House which made a preliminary reference to the EU Court of Justice regarding the tests to be applied. 

The Supreme Court decision will finally determine whether the law can be introduced.