EU rejects low duty alcohol reform

The Court said that only alcoholic drinks bought for private use and transported personally by that consumer would escape duty tax in the destination country.

The ruling largely continues the status quo for the drinks industry, and will prevent governments in countries with high duty rates from losing substantial revenue.

A Supreme Court judge in the Netherlands had asked the EU Court of Justice to review the rules on duty payments after a Dutch importer refused to pay tax on wine bought in southern France.

If endorsed, this could have allowed consumers to buy alcohol direct from countries with lower tax, via the internet or mail order, potentially damaging retailers and wholesalers in the destination country.

Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the UK Wine & Spirit Association (WSTA), welcomed the decision to maintain the current law. "UK customers already get a very good deal in what is a highly competitive market"​.

UK authorities, which impose one of Europe's highest duty tax rates on alcohol, had lobbied strongly against change.

They already lose more than £1bn to Britons making 'booze cruise' runs to northern France, stacking up their cars with wine, spirits and beer because the duty is lower.

Harmonisation of duty tax rates across the 25 EU member states is the preferred option of both the UK government and the WSTA.

Beadles said: "We are all in favour of a free market economy but it has to be on the basis of a level playing field. The speculation around this decision has highlighted the different excise duty rates across the European Union."​

Member state ministers across the EU recently failed to agree on a harmonised duty tax for alcoholic drinks.

The European Commission has proposed a new EU-wide, minimum rate on alcoholic drinks, which it says would prevent market distortion and also clamp down on fraud in member states with higher tax rates. Current minimum rates were set in 1993.