Systembolaget suits Danish wine app

Vivino started selling wine on the Swedish market in September 2019, in collaboration with a private courier company that handles home transport to customers.

This is contrary to the Alcohol Act, says Systembolaget's Press Manager Lennart Agén.

- The system has exclusive rights to sales, both in stores and online, so when Vivino sells alcoholic beverages, they violate the law.

While it is permissible to order alcohol on the Internet for delivery to Sweden, the customer must then arrange the transport himself, says Agén.

Vivino offers drinks and home transportation as a package and thus goes over the limit, according to Systembolaget.

In addition, the company violates the alcohol law's requirements for "special moderation" in marketing, believes Systembolaget - this by encouraging purchases and by linking alcohol to Friday night, Halloween and Black Friday.

To stop Vivino's operations in Sweden, Systembolaget has therefore gone ahead and sued the company at the Patent and Market Court, which Dagens Juridik was the first to report.

Systembolaget wants the court to issue a penalty order totaling SEK 3 million, which would force Vivino to cease operations or pay the fine.

Jörgen Hettne, associate professor of EU law at Lund University, welcomes the issue. A central question is whether the transport company can be regarded as "independent" of Vivino - otherwise the arrangement violates the law, he writes in a comment.

Nor can it be counted as private imports if Vivino appears to be "significantly present" in the Swedish retail market, he points out.

Vivino was launched as a social platform for wine enthusiasts in 2010. The service is said to have almost 40 million users in the world.

Last year, Systembolaget Winefinder voted in a similar case that has not yet been decided.

SVT is looking for Vivino.