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News
SWA gets green light for MUP appeal
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has been given the go-ahead to appeal a Scottish court’s ruling in favour of minimum unit pricing at the UK Supreme Court.
The SWA has been given permission to take its appeal again MUP to the UK Supreme Court
In October, the SWA lost a legal challenge in Scottish courts over minimum pricing, but this week the trade body was given permission to go to Britain’s highest court at a hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
”We have today received notification from the Court of Session in Edinburgh that our application for leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court regarding minimum unit pricing (MUP) has been granted,” said Julie Hesketh-Laird, SWA acting chief executive.
“We now hope the appeal can be heard quickly by the Supreme Court, with a final ruling next year.”
The Scottish parliament agreed to minimum unit pricing in 2012 with a suggested 50p per unit. Legal action was taken by the SWA after members of Scottish Parliament passed the policy, claiming it would breach the European Union’s trading laws.
This was confirmed by the European Court of Justice last year, which agreed that Scotland’s plan to introduce minimum unit pricing of alcohol is illegal because it breaches EU trade laws.
The introduction of minimum unit pricing will ramp up the cost of more than half of Scotland’s total alcohol sales, according to a recent study by Nielsen, which found that 69% of spirits in Scotland by volume are currently sold below the 50p per unit threshold.