Doubts remain over whether agreement can be reached

Date: 17/10/1996

on the sensitive issue of phasing-out the special rules which allow the three Nordic EU member states to limit the quantity of alcohol people can bring in from elsewhere in the Union. The Commission will hold further talks with the three countries concerned next Wednesday (23 October) in an attempt to get a deal. But with the trio still holding out for their exemptions from single market rules to remain unchanged until at least 1999 and the Commission calling for them to be phased out, the outcome remains far from certain.