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Internal Market White Paper: been asked for worked out egs... OK, but bear in mind: only proposals, not legal text!
Will use two hypothetical egs
1) Scotland enacts minimum price for alcohol
2) Scotland bans single use plastics
Q = can they be enforced against English imports?
Will use two hypothetical egs
1) Scotland enacts minimum price for alcohol
2) Scotland bans single use plastics
Q = can they be enforced against English imports?
1) minimum price for alcohol is generally regarded as form of product requirement directly relating to lawful sale of relevant goods - much like composition or packaging or labelling. I.e. this isn't some mere ancillary trading rule like method of transport or advertising.
Under White Paper, mutual recognition applies to all product requirements - so English alcohol shouldn't have to comply with Scottish minimum pricing, even in Scottish shops. So far, much like EU law. But here's the crucial difference: EU rule = only presumption, not absolute...
So EU law = Scotland could still justify minimum alcohol price, eg on public health grounds. By contrast, under White Paper, mutual recognition appears to be absolute: Scots simply have to allow sale of English alcohol and cannot enforce minimum pricing, regardless of good reason
I.e. UK version of mutual recognition looks significantly more far-reaching than "evil EU superstate"... In practice: if Scots can't enforce minimum alcohol rules against English alcohol, they may as well not have them at all = devolution in practice means far less than on paper
2) Scottish ban on single use plastics = this time a clear product requirement related to lawful sale of goods, since directly regulates composition / packaging. So: mutual recognition applies & rule cannot be enforced against English imports containing single use plastics
Again: if this were EU law, Scotland could justify its ban on environmental grounds & thus continue to enforce it against imported as well as domestic goods. But UK proposals for (it appears) absolute mutual recognition = no chance for justification, Scots rules just can't apply
Now remember what we said about unique UK context: strong duty of mutual recognition, in "internal market" entirely dominated by one huge territory v. several relatively small territories = legal and economic pressures inherently stifle exercise of devolved regulatory competence
