Professor Graham Butler:

This is more an issue of international economic law than one of pure EU law. Normally there is an erga omnes obligation in the sense that if a state is going to discriminate on the grounds of public policy exceptions as regards a third state, it might need to apply it to all occupied territories. I understand that is much more complex to do in practice but there could be obligations under EU law that I have not considered fully in the opinion here today and so I will not comment further. However, choosing one occupied territory or one specific international situation while ignoring others could potentially raise problems. However, that is not the main focus of what we are discussing here today. We are mainly discussing the lawfulness of the issue of goods and this specific third state.