A leading lawyer has claimed that Scotland’s deposit return scheme could create an unlawful trade barrier with the rest of the UK, according to media reports.
The reports suggest Aidan O’Neill KC made the remarks in a 25-page legal opinion, sought by a group of distillers, in which he says he believes there were “well-founded” concerns that the scheme would create a trade barrier between Scotland and England as it would require different prices to be charged for the same product on each side of the border.
O’Neill said economic evidence would be required to confirm this, but that it meant the scheme could contravene the UK Internal Market Act 2020.
In addition, O’Neill warned that the regulations could not be enforced for single-use packaged drinks imported into Scotland from elsewhere in the UK, which would disadvantage Scottish producers.
The UK government said its preference would be to launch a UK-wide deposit return scheme as it would “minimise disruption to the drinks industry and ensure choice for consumers”.
A spokesperson said: “As the Scottish government is pressing ahead with their own deposit return scheme, the UK government is working with them to ensure as much interoperability as possible between the schemes across the UK.”
In response, a Scottish government spokesperson, told the BBC: “We continue to work closely with the other administrations in the UK to ensure that Scotland’s DRS is as closely aligned as possible with other potential schemes in the UK.”
