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1992 Delaware Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (1992)

handle is hein.sag/sagde0032 and id is 1 raw text is: STATE OF DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE STATE OFFICE BUILDING CHARLES M. OBERLY, III 820 N. FRENCH STREET, 8TH FLOOR DIRECT DIAu ATTORNEY GENERAL WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19801 577-2500 January 16, 1992 The Honorable George E. Hale Department of Administrative Services Margaret M. O'Neill Building P.O. Box 1401 Dover, DE 19901 Re: Quantity Discounts to Alcoholic Beverage Retailers Informal Opinion No. 92-CO01 Dear Secretary Hale: You have asked whether the Delaware Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (the Commission) had the authority to promulgate rules which prohibit importers of alcoholic beverag- es from giving quantity discounts to the retailers they sell to, and whether such rules violate the Sherman Act or enjoy immunity from that Act by virtue of the state action doctrine of the Twenty-first Amendment of the United States Constitu- tion. For the reasons which follow, we conclude that, while there is some question as to the validity of these rules given the trend in recent case law, prudent regulatory oversight enhances their enforceability. Specifically, Commission Rules 29 and 29.1 provide that importers must post the prices which they charge retailers for alcoholic beverages. The prices are posted for single units of the beverage to be offered for sale. For example, the price