Retail organization calls on EU to dismantle Alko monopoly

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Päivittäistavarakauppa ry, a registered association representing the interests of the Finnish current consumer goods retail trade, has demanded the dismantling of the retail monopoly on alcohol sales enjoyed by Alko, the state-owned chain of liquor stores. The organization has sent a request to the European Commission, calling for an enquiry into the monopoly.
      According to the complaint, Alko's retail monopoly is discriminatory, and Alko's operations cannot be justified on the grounds of upholding and protecting national health.
      The matter was written about in an article in today's edition of the Tampere-based daily Aamulehti.
     
The complaint is signed by the Päivittäistavarakauppa ry managing director Osmo Laine. According to the Aamulehti article, it was despatched to the Commission in Brussels in December of last year.
      The complaint charges that the principles of preserving national health that are enshrined in the Alko monopoly are limited, given that sales through the company's outlets now account for less than one third of all nationwide alcohol consumption. Bar and restaurant sales, together with imports from countries like Estonia, and of course the permitted sale of mild beer (up to 4.7% alcohol) and cider in supermarkets and other stores, account for the lion’s share of the alcohol drunk in Finland.
      The request notes that Alko's operations are based on increasing sales, which for its part tends to encourage greater consumption of alcohol. The company's pricing policy, in turn, is said to be profit-driven and geared to the maximum return in taxation. The current consumer goods trade interest group, which would like to see wines and stronger beers sold in high street supermarkets, argues that the off-licence monopoly contravenes EU rules and the terms of Finland's negotiated agreement with the Union on its accession in 1995.
     
There have been many and repeated attempts to put wines on supermarket shelves, but thus far the Swedish (Systembolaget) and Finnish (Alko) retail monopolies have withstood all assaults, although prices in Alko were reduced sharply last year when the Finnish government cut the tax levied on alcohol, in an apparently successful attempt to stave off massive cheap imports from Estonia.
      Alcohol consumption in Finland is rising quite rapidly, and some health authorities have expressed concern at increased drunkenness and social problems.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Consumption of alcohol bought in Finland increases by 7.6 percent in first half of 2004 (3.9.2004)

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