Addressing the harmful use of alcohol - WHO Western Pacific Region

Addressing the harmful use of alcohol : A guide to developing effective alcohol legislation
Issues to consider
A possible model
A government retail monopoly system would be one way of controlling the locational
availability of a large proportion of alcohol, and directly ensuring responsible sales policies,
thereby contributing to government health objectives. As in other countries with state retail
monopolies, this approach could work in conjunction with a licensing system for sale on
alcohol for consumption on the premises.
For example, in Niue take-away alcohol can only be purchased from the government’s bond
store. In other parts of the Pacific, alcohol is readily available in towns and is spreading to rural
areas. Some villages and localities, for example, in Papua New Guinea, are setting their own
rules restricting the availability of alcohol.
Trade considerations
A number of international trade agreements and economic treaties have affected the activities
of state enterprises and monopolies. While most such agreements recognize the right of
partner countries to run monopolies, their activities are subject to trade disciplines (e.g. Article
VIII of GATS).
When the Scandinavian countries entered the European Economic Area or European Union
their monopolies came under pressure. Their import, export, wholesale, and production
aspects were privatized, but their retail monopolies were upheld by the European Court of
Justice. The Swedish state monopoly was required to include alcopops in its retail range.
Challenges under trade agreements were threatened to the Canadian provincial monopolies
(leading to a weakening of the Ontario system, including a lower minimum price for beer) and
more recently to the US state monopolies (Giesbrecht et al. 2006). None have proceeded to
the World Trade Organization (WTO), however. As of 2009, the status of all currently existing
state monopolies is stable.
The key issue under trade agreements is not who owns outlets but that governments allow
market entry, impose no quantitative restrictions on products, and treat all imported and
domestic products equally. Under GATS Article VI on Domestic Regulation, licensing procedures
should not in themselves be a restriction on supply. It is nevertheless possible to implement
effective alcohol policies to meet public health objectives (Baumberg and Anderson 2008).
Trade in alcohol can be expected to increase, highlighting the potential impact of trade
agreements on alcohol consumption and related harm, and the need for coordination and
coherence between trade and health objectives and policies.
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