Court of Justice of EU considered legislation would significantly restrict market.
Health has been an important theme in the work of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the last month.
In case C-333/14, in a reference arising from a challenge brought by the Scotch Whisky Association, the court considered legislation introducing a minimum price per unit of alcohol, which had the objective of protecting human life and health by reducing the hazardous consumption of alcohol and the consumption of alcohol more generally.
The court considered that the effect of the legislation was to significantly restrict the market, which could be avoided by introducing a tax measure designed to increase the price of alcohol, while allowing traders to determine their own selling price.
The task of determining whether the proposed legislation was justified or if the objectives could be achieved through less restrictive means was referred back to the national court.
Also enacted with a view to promoting health, the EU tobacco directive of 2014 introducing plain packaging for cigarettes, a future EU-wide prohibition on menthol cigarettes and special rules for e-cigarettes was considered to be lawful in the opinion of advocate general Kokott in a series of challenges brought by Poland, Philip Morris and others.
Source: Aileen Murtagh, Catherine Donnelly, The Irish Times, 05/02/16
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