The digital market for private importation of wine - The borderline between retail sales and private importation
(2021) HARN63 20211Department of Business Law
- Abstract
- This thesis aims to analyse the borderline between private importation and retail sales of alcohol on the EU internal market. This thesis shows that according to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the definition of private import is a complex assessment that depends on several factors. Among other indicators, it depends on the shipping and logistics procedure. To be classified as a private import, it is required that the ownership passes outside Sweden's border (see case Visnapuu).
However, in Sweden, a legal debate has recently taken place where the question has been whether it must be the customer who brings the wine into Sweden and not the company. Another question is if the customer and the private importer... (More) - This thesis aims to analyse the borderline between private importation and retail sales of alcohol on the EU internal market. This thesis shows that according to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the definition of private import is a complex assessment that depends on several factors. Among other indicators, it depends on the shipping and logistics procedure. To be classified as a private import, it is required that the ownership passes outside Sweden's border (see case Visnapuu).
However, in Sweden, a legal debate has recently taken place where the question has been whether it must be the customer who brings the wine into Sweden and not the company. Another question is if the customer and the private importer must be able to influence the delivery and choose their carrier. Complete offers where wine is sold, including shipping to Sweden, were prohibited by the Swedish Winefinder judgment, but the most recent Vivino judgment casts doubt on that judgment. Both cases are from the Swedish patents and the Patent and Market Court, and both cases have been appealed to the Patent and Market Court of Appeal. A tricky question has been that the company may only act as an "independent intermediary" according to the Alcohol Act in chapter four 4§ p.7. Therefore, it has been debated if it is crucial that the customer can control the transport and that the logistics are disconnected from the purchase of wine.
Furthermore, to be qualified as private importation and not retail selling, there must not be strong connections to Sweden. Therefore, it is not in compliance with the Swedish alcohol act to have a Swedish parent company with a subsidiary in the EU and use this subsidiary to fulfil the requisites for private imports if this creates retail sales in practice. If a company has its main parts of its operations in Sweden, the sales to Swedish customers cannot qualify as private importation. It is then considered as established in Sweden in violation of domestic law.
The definition is complex, and since the Court in Sweden has given two different rulings in similar cases, the development of private imports is in great change. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9054017
- author
- Einarsson, Kristin LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- HARN63 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- The four freedoms Monopoly Private importation of wine The EU internal market Systembolaget Digital market
- language
- English
- id
- 9054017
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-14 14:11:00
- date last changed
- 2021-06-14 14:11:00
@misc{9054017,
abstract = {{This thesis aims to analyse the borderline between private importation and retail sales of alcohol on the EU internal market. This thesis shows that according to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the definition of private import is a complex assessment that depends on several factors. Among other indicators, it depends on the shipping and logistics procedure. To be classified as a private import, it is required that the ownership passes outside Sweden's border (see case Visnapuu).
However, in Sweden, a legal debate has recently taken place where the question has been whether it must be the customer who brings the wine into Sweden and not the company. Another question is if the customer and the private importer must be able to influence the delivery and choose their carrier. Complete offers where wine is sold, including shipping to Sweden, were prohibited by the Swedish Winefinder judgment, but the most recent Vivino judgment casts doubt on that judgment. Both cases are from the Swedish patents and the Patent and Market Court, and both cases have been appealed to the Patent and Market Court of Appeal. A tricky question has been that the company may only act as an "independent intermediary" according to the Alcohol Act in chapter four 4§ p.7. Therefore, it has been debated if it is crucial that the customer can control the transport and that the logistics are disconnected from the purchase of wine.
Furthermore, to be qualified as private importation and not retail selling, there must not be strong connections to Sweden. Therefore, it is not in compliance with the Swedish alcohol act to have a Swedish parent company with a subsidiary in the EU and use this subsidiary to fulfil the requisites for private imports if this creates retail sales in practice. If a company has its main parts of its operations in Sweden, the sales to Swedish customers cannot qualify as private importation. It is then considered as established in Sweden in violation of domestic law.
The definition is complex, and since the Court in Sweden has given two different rulings in similar cases, the development of private imports is in great change.}},
author = {{Einarsson, Kristin}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The digital market for private importation of wine - The borderline between retail sales and private importation}},
year = {{2021}},
}