The UK Supreme Court [official website] ruled [judgment, PDF] Wednesday in favor of allowing minimum pricing in Scotland per unit of alcohol.

The Alcohol (Minimum Pricing)(Scotland) Act of 2012 [text, PDF] sought to institute minimum pricing for alcohol based on a formula factoring in the minimum price per unit, the strength of the alcohol, and the volume of the alcohol to address the societal consequences of cheap alcohol.

The Scotch Whiskey Association along with others brought a suit alleging that the law was in violation of articles 34 and 39 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and EU Regulation No 1308/2013 [text, PDF].

The UK Supreme Court interpreted the articles in light of the guidance of the EU Court of Justice. In its analysis of Article 34 of the TFEU, the court accepted that the minimum pricing would be seen as an effective quantitative restriction on imports prohibited in the article. However, this was justified through article 36: “The provisions of articles 34 and 35 shall not preclude prohibitions or restrictions on imports, exports or goods in transit justified on grounds of … the protection of health and life of humans.”

In its deliberation, the court considered whether taxation would be a better method of addressing societal consequences. The court discussed that the minimum pricing better addresses the issue of cheap alcohol and its disproportionate affect on lower income communities where there is more abuse of cheap alcohol. Taxation would put an unintended burden on members of the population whose drinking habits are not the societal issue looking to be resolved with the legislation.

The court upheld the minimum pricing as the appropriate option to address the societal concerns and as being within the rights of the Member States concerning human life and health allowable in analysis of the TFEU and EU Regulations.