Citation(s) (2001) C-405/98 Ruling court European Court of Justice | End date 2001 | |
Similar Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke v De Sme, Schmidberger v Austria, Commission v France (1997), Commission v Germany (1987), Procureur du Roi v Benoît an | ||
Konsumentombudsmannen v Gourmet AB (2001) C-405/98 is an EU law case, concerning the free movement of goods in the European Union.
Contents
Facts
Sweden banned ads for alcohol on the radio, TV and in magazines totally. Sweden argued the measure was lawful because there had been a constant increase in wine sales, mostly imports, so the ad ban could not be having a disparate impact in fact on importers.
Advocate General Jacobs
AG Jacobs highlighted that Swedish producers dominated the strong beer market. This was shown by Gourmet's statistics. Ingrained consumer habits would favour national beer.
Court of Justice
The Court of Justice held the law infringed art 34 but it could be justified on public health grounds if it was proportionate. The ban having an effect on cross-border supply of advertising space breached TFEU art 56 on free movement of services, but this could again be justified on grounds of public health.