The Court of Session, Scotland’s supreme civil court, has ruled today in favour of the legality of the Scottish government’s plans to introduce minimum pricing per unit of alcohol.
May 3, 2013
Judge Lord Doherty, sitting at the Court of Session in Edinburgh heard the legal arguments from the alcohol industry and the Scottish Government over several days earlier this year.
The alcohol industry will have 21 days in which to decide whether it has grounds for appeal.
The full judgment will appear at https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/Feeds/hc-cos-50-rss once it is available from the court.
MSPs passed The Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 in May 2012, setting the 50p minimum unit price as part of an effort to tackle alcohol misuse.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and other European wine and spirits producers took action against the proposal claiming that it breaches the UK’s European Union (EU) treaty obligations because it would restrain trade.
They also maintain it will be ineffective in tackling alcohol misuse and say it will penalise responsible drinkers and damage the industry.
Holyrood ministers have said they are committed to introducing the policy in a bid to address Scotland’s unhealthy relationship with drink, and save lives.
They undertook not to bring in the measure while the legal action was with the courts
