Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 23 December 2015

Scotch Whisky Association and Others v The Lord Advocate and The Advocate General for Scotland

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Session (Scotland)

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Common organisation of the markets in agricultural products — Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 — Free movement of goods — Article 34 TFEU ‐ Quantitative restrictions — Measures having equivalent effect — Minimum price of alcoholic drinks calculated according to the alcoholic strength of the product — Justification — Article 36 TFEU ‐ Protection of human life and health — Assessment by the national court

Case C-333/14


Top of the page Documents in the Case
Document Date Name of the parties Subject-matter Curia EUR-Lex Autres Liens
Judgment (OJ)
05/02/2016 The Scotch Whisky Association
Judgment
ECLI:EU:C:2015:845
23/12/2015 The Scotch Whisky Association
Judgment (Summary)
ECLI:EU:C:2015:845
23/12/2015 The Scotch Whisky Association
Application (OJ)
12/09/2014 The Scotch Whisky Association
Opinion
ECLI:EU:C:2015:527
03/09/2015 The Scotch Whisky Association
Top of the page Legal analysis of the decision or of the case

Reports of Cases

published in the electronic Reports of Cases (Court Reports - general)

Subject-matter

Information not available

Systematic classification scheme

1.
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.03 Agriculture and fisheries
    4.03.03 Common organisation of the markets
      4.03.03.06 Wine
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.02 Free movement of goods
    4.02.02 Prohibition of quantitative restrictions and measures having equivalent effect
      4.02.02.02 Measures having equivalent effect
        4.02.02.02.05 Rules concerning the production, denomination and marketing of products
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.02 Free movement of goods
    4.02.02 Prohibition of quantitative restrictions and measures having equivalent effect
      4.02.02.03 Derogations
        4.02.02.03.02 Protection of public health and protection of plants
1 The legal order of the European Union
  1.01 Sources of EU law
    1.01.02 General principles of law
      1.01.02.06 Principle of proportionality
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.02 Free movement of goods
    4.02.02 Prohibition of quantitative restrictions and measures having equivalent effect
      4.02.02.03 Derogations
        4.02.02.03.02 Protection of public health and protection of plants


Citations of case-law or legislation

References in grounds of judgment

Operative part

Opinion


Dates

Date of the lodging of the application initiating proceedings

  • 08/07/2014

Date of the Opinion

  • 03/09/2015

Date of the hearing

Information not available

Date of delivery

23/12/2015


References

Publication in the Official Journal

Judgment: OJ C 68 from 22.02.2016, p.11

Application: OJ C 339 from 29.09.2014, p.4

Name of the parties

The Scotch Whisky Association

Notes on Academic Writings

  1. Frediani, Zeno: Minimum alcohol pricing, Competition Law Insight 2015 Vol. 14 Issue 9 p.18-20 (EN)
  2. Picod, Fabrice: Cour de justice, 2e ch., 23 décembre 2015, Scotch Whisky Association et a., aff. C-333/14, ECLI:EU:C:2015:845, Jurisprudence de la CJUE 2015 (Ed. Bruylant - Bruxelles) 2015 p.299-302 (FR)
  3. Anderson, Michael ; Howard, Kate: Scotch Whisky Association: justifying barriers to trade, Tax Journal 2016 nº 1298 p.21-22 (EN)
  4. Bartlett, Oliver: Minimum Unit Pricing for Alcohol May Not be a Proportionate Public Health Intervention, European Journal of Risk Regulation 2016 Nº 1 p. 218 - 222 (EN)
  5. Bogaerts, Dagmara: Scotch Whisky Association. Scottish legislation introducing a minimum price per unit of alcohol is contrary to EU law if less restrictive tax measures can be introduced., Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 2016 nº 3 p.169-171 (EN)
  6. Rigaux, Anne: Mesures d'effet équivalent, Europe 2016 Février Comm. nº 2 p.22-25 (FR)
  7. Takis, Athanasios: Armenopoulos 2016 p.355-356 (EL)
  8. Bogdanova, Anna ; Andrijevska, Elīna: PRIORITĀTE - BRĪVAIS TIRGUS VAI PATĒRĒTĀJU VESELĪBA, Jurista vārds 2016 nº 26 p.30 (LV)
  9. Alemanno, Alberto: Balancing free movement and public health: The case of minimum unit pricing of alcohol in Scotch Whisky, Common Market Law Review 2016 p.1037-1063 (EN)
  10. Picod, Fabrice: Une augmentation de la taxe est préférable à une mesure de fixation de prix minimum, La Semaine Juridique - édition générale 2016 nº 1-2 p.51 (FR)
  11. Petit, Yves: Fixation d'un prix minimal de vente des vins et bon fonctionnement de l' "OCM unique", Revue de droit rural 2016 nº 445 Août-Septembre p.70-72 (FR)
  12. Hoffmann, Jan Martin: Vereinbarkeit von Mindestpreisen für alkoholische Getränke mit der Warenverkehrsfreiheit, Neue juristische Wochenschrift 2016 p.625-626 (DE)
  13. Purnhagen, Kai: Mindestpreis für alkoholische Getränke, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht 2016 p.234-235 (DE)
  14. Szalatkay, Judit: Minimumárakkal a közegészségért – a skót alkoholtörvény az Európai Bíróság előtt Az Európai Bíróság előzetes döntése a C-333/14. számú ügyben, Versenytükör 2016 1. szám p.96-101 (HU)
  15. Hojnik, Janja: Minimalne cene alkoholnih pijač v luči prava EU: "the market spirit for the spirit market", Davčno-finančna praksa : davki, finance, zavarovalnistvo 2016 n° 1 p.21-24 (SL)
  16. Peter, Olivier: Case Scotch Whisky Association and Others v Lord Advocate, Revue européenne de droit de la consommation 2016 n°1 p.123-130 (FR)
  17. Oliver, Peter: Case Scotch Whisky Association and Others v Lord Advocate, European Journal of Consumer Law | Revue européenne de droit de la consommation 2016 | 1 p.123-130 (EN)
  18. Genovese, Amarillide: Non piangere sul whisky versato? Note a margine di una recente decisione della Corte di giustizia europea sul prezzo minimo imposto delle bevande alcoliche., Rivista di diritto agrario 2016 2 p.94-102 (IT)
  19. Picod, Fabrice: VII. Libertés économiques - Cour de justice, 2e ch., 23 décembre 2015, Scotch Whisky Association et a., aff. C-333/14, ECLI:C:2015:845, Jurisprudence de la CJUE 2015. Décisions et commentaires (Ed. Bruylant - Bruxelles) 2016, p. 299-302 (FR)
  20. Marcus, Laura: Libre circulation des marchandises et critère d'interprétation, la saga continue avec les épisodes Scotch Whisky et Valev Visnapuu, Journal de droit européen 2017 nº 237 p.98-103 (FR)
  21. Albors-Llorens, Albertina: The Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 and the collision between Single-Market objectives and public-interest requirements, The Cambridge Law Journal 2017 p.25-29 (EN)
  22. Sibony, Anne-Lise ; Zians, Audrey: Marché intérieur (Libre circulation des marchandises, liberté d'établissement, libre prestation de services et libre circulation des capitaux), Revue trimestrielle de droit européen 2017 n°4 p.838-840 (FR)
  23. Rigaux, Anne: Discriminations indirectes, Europe 2017 décembre nº 12 p.36-37 (FR)
  24. Dunne, Niamh: Mnimum Alcohol Pricing : Balancing the "Essentially Incomparable" in Scotch Whisky, The Modern Law Review 2018 p.890-905 (EN)
  25. O'Connor, Bernard: MINIMUM PRICING FOR ALCOHOL IN SCOTLAND DOES NOT INFRINGE EU LAW (C-333/14, SCOTCH WHISKY ASSOCIATION), JUS VINI 2018 N°1 p.47-52 (EN)
  26. Bartlett, Oliver ; Macculloch, Angus: Evidence and Proportionality in Free Movement Cases: The Impact of the Scotch Whisky Case, European Journal of Risk Regulation 2020 nº 11/1 p.109-130 (EN)



Procedural Analysis Information

Source of the question referred for a preliminary ruling

Court of Session (Scotland) - United Kingdom

Subject-matter

  • Agriculture and Fisheries
  • Free movement of goods
  • - Quantitative restrictions

Provisions of national law referred to

Alcohol (Minimum pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

Provisions of international law referred to

Information not available

Procedure and result

  • Reference for a preliminary ruling

Formation of the Court

deuxième chambre (Cour)

Judge-Rapporteur

Lycourgos

Advocate General

Bot

Language(s) of the Case

  • English

Language(s) of the Opinion

  • French