Alcohol policy in the Nordic countries

摘要

Last month the European Court dealt a potentially fatal blow to alcohol policy in much of Scandinavia. A preliminary ruling held that Sweden's retail alcohol monopoly, which has the eifect of controlling access to spirits, was illegal under European competition law. If upheld, this policy seems likely also to apply to Finland and, possibly, Norway and Iceland due to their obligations as members of the European Economic Area. All of these countries operate this system, which has been effective—death rates from cirrhosis in Sweden are less than half those in Denmark, where there is no such policy.