State monopolies of a commercial character

Since the coming about of the EEA Agreement, the law concerning state monopolies of a commercial character, particular retail sale monopolies regarding alcoholic goods in the Nordic states, have been intensely circumspect. Article 16 EEA mostly mimics Article 37 TFEU yet has been interpreted by the EFTA Court with the same level of difficulty that the CJEU has had with Article 37 TFEU. As seen in this chapter, the EFTA Court has followed and developed its case law, just like the CJEU, when it has been asked. That said, the recent case law of the CJEU in this area has seen it stop applying Article 37 TFEU, however, and instead, merely assess national measures relating to state monopolies under Article 34 TFEU. The EFTA Court has not had an Article 16 EEA case in over a decade, and thus, when asked, the EFTA Court will be asked whether it wishes to preserve substantive homogeneity in this area of the free movement of goods by changing its case law to assess national measures on such issues under Article 11 EEA instead.