@ Photo Benoit Linero
On 29 October, the European Parliamentary Intergroup on Wines, Spirits and Quality Foodstuffs hosted a dedicated session on spirits, where the sector presented on progress in self- and co-regulatory initiatives in the areas of labelling, sustainability, marketing standards (with a special focus on reducing minors’ exposure to alcohol advertising), and efforts to promote responsible drinking and help to reduce the harmful consumption. As part of the discussion, participants also heard from the European Commission and EUROCARE about their respective perspectives on the initiatives presented.
The Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) showed the progress made in implementing initiatives in the area of environmental sustainability – providing an informative overview of the sector and its importance at a local, national and international level, while describing processes – such as having farmers sign up to dedicated sustainability protocols – in developing and achieving progressive sustainability targets. The targets of the Cognac sector are ambitious, and include certifications, water reuse projects, and circular economy projects, among many others. Most importantly, however, the sector is on target to meet the self-set objectives.
Perhaps the landmark co-regulation agreement, finalised between the spirits sector and the European Commission in 2019, is the MoU on energy labelling. Despite a difficult and challenging year for the sector – from multinational company to SME, the ambitious target set for 2020 is likely to be met. Most importantly, spiritsEUROPE, continues to welcome new signatories to this agreement, ensuring Europe-wide compliance and roll-out in the years ahead. For the consumer, more and more bottles of spirits with the new energy labels on pack have begun to appear on the shelves. In addition, our colleagues from Spain gave a spirited presentation to showcase real-life examples of new e-labels that can easily be scanned and read out by consumers using their mobile phone.
Next, representatives from the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) presented the work done to introduce measures to promote responsible drinking and help reduce harmful drinking practices and to introduce strict standards on reducing minors’ exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing.
While a lot has been achieved, much still remains to be done. spiritsEUROPE will continue its work to broaden internal adherence to the above-mentioned initiatives amongst its members, actively support members in their day-to-day work, and promote a sense of responsibility at EU and national level.
