Court case expected to establish guidelines for online alcohol sales; website on trial
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A criminal trial involving the Viinakauppa.com website, which has sold alcoholic beverages over the Internet, began with a preliminary hearing at Helsinki District Court on Tuesday.
The court’s decision could set a precedent on how easily Finns can order alcohol from other EU countries on the Internet.
State Prosecutor Anu Mantila is calling for suspended prison sentences for professional procurement of alcoholic beverages.
The prosecution says that the defendants have sold alcohol through the website, bringing it unlawfully to buyers in Finland from Germany.
The defendants deny committing any crime.
The prosecutor and the defence lawyer Petteri Snell agree that an acquittal would hurt the monopoly position of the state-run alcohol retailer Alko.
“The alcohol company would get significant competition. The position of the individual consumer and those who order alcohol would become much easier, if it were possible to order as much alcoholic beverages as possible from another EU country”, Mantila acknowledged.
Two of the defendants have been responsible for the operations of the Estonian company behind the website.
The third has been a key figure in the Estonian transport company which brought the beverages from Germany to Finland.
According to the defendants, their operation does not involve online selling. As they see it, the customers are paying the company to transport the drinks that they have bought.
The defence feels that the officials and the prosecutor are on the wrong track.
“If the prosecutor manages to show in court that this was a case of remote selling, then so what? That is also permitted in Europe”, Petteri Snell says.
One of Snell’s clients says that they are willing to bring the matter before the EU Court, if domestic courts consider the activity to be illegal.
The prosecutor is demanding that three defendants reimburse the state for about EUR 550,000 in lost revenues. She also wants the representative of the transport company to pay EUR 190,000 in compensatory damages.
The main trial begins in mid-November.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 14.10.2009 - TODAY |
 Court case expected to establish guidelines for online alcohol sales; website on trial |
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