Alko to keep strong position despite ruling on online alcohol sales

Prosecutor considers appeal

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Friday’s decision by Helsinki District Court to reject criminal charges against Viinikauppa.com is expected to sharply increase the number of Finnish language Internet-based alcohol retailers.
      Under Finnish law, the state-owned Alko has a retail monopoly on retail sales of all alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of more than 4.7 per cent. Viinikauppa.com markets drinks on the Internet in transactions which technically take place in Germany, from where the goods are delivered to Finland.
     
“New players might emerge on the Internet, but I do not believe that it will have any great significance. The proportion of Internet sales in the sale of alcohol is nearly insignificant”, says Alko CEO Jaakko Uotila.
      Kari Sjöblom of Viinikauppa.com agrees.
      “I do not believe that large European companies are interested in Finland. The market here is small, and there is a big risk of locking horns with Finnish officials.”
      There does seem to be interest among Finnish consumers in buying drinks on line. News of the acquittal was followed by such big a surge of traffic onto the Viinikauppa.com website on Friday that the site’s server crashed. It was not until the evening that the site was accessible again.
     
In its decision, the court acquitted two representatives of the Estonian company behind Viinikauppa.com, and one person behind the transport company involved, because the online store did not import the drinks from Germany to Finland itself: the transactions technically took place in Germany, and the delivery was the responsibility of an Estonian company contracted separately for the purpose.
      Both State Prosecutor Anu Mantila and defence lawyer Petteri Snell would have liked the court to have taken a stand on whether or not direct delivery by a foreign online liquor store to consumers in Finland would also be legal.
      Mantila admits that the evidence against the defendants was not great, adding: “The threshold for prosecution was lowered by the fact that this is an important legal issue, and the interest to clarify the matter is great”.
      Mantila says that she is considering an appeal in the matter.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Court rules online liquor store legal (5.3.2010)
  Finnish clients of Internet off-licence get their confiscated alcohol against payment of excise tax (10.12.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat