Brussels, 26/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Strengthened by the lessons learned from the Supply Chain Initiative (SCI), EuroCommerce is now recommending that the European institutions continue to support this initiative.
The initiative was launched in September 2013 and is supported by the European Commission. It brings together different European member associations working in the food and drink sector and aims to promote good practice in commercial relations along the food supply chain. This involves improving negotiations between trading partners and finding acceptable solutions in the event of a dispute. Its first annual report presented on Tuesday 20 January confirms the sector's support for the initiative: 900 European companies are committed to respecting the code of good practice. The survey was carried out within the framework of the annual report and highlights the lowest ever level of complaints. These are generally dealt with within a four-month period. Christian Verschueren, the director-general at EuroCommerce, which is underpinning this initiative, is convinced that voluntary implementation is the right way to go because, “the SCI allows common good practices to trickle down from Brussels to company boards and on, to buyers and sellers”. He is therefore calling on “the EU institutions to closely monitor developments and to refrain from making definitive conclusions while the scheme is still developing”. He is also hoping that both sufficient time and a legal framework will be allowed so that this initiative is able to demonstrate its effectiveness. (MD)