The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) has said that it ‘welcomes’ today’s ruling by European Court of Justice that the issue of minimum unit pricing would restrict the market.
The ruling means that MUP is unlikely to be implementable in Ireland.
ABFI said that it ‘wants to play its part in tackling alcohol misuse and believes that the reintroduction of a ban on below cost selling would be a much more effective means of ensuring alcohol is not sold as a loss leader and would end the deep discounting that distorts the market’.
Ireland already has the most expensive alcohol in the EU and pays amongst the highest taxes on alcohol.
‘We would invite the Department of Health to engage with the industry to prioritise finding an effective solution to tackle the sale of cheap alcohol - such as reintroducing the ban on selling alcohol below cost price – which has been proven to be effective in this market,’ ABFI said.
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
