Brussels, 04/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - CMBC - The Brewers of Europe, presided by Paul Bergqvist, is organising on 18 April in Brussels a conference on the theme "Working for Responsible Consumption". It will be attended, among others, by MEP Astrid Lulling (Luxembourg, Christian Democrat) and Gottfried Thesen, from the Directorate General on Consumer Health and Protection at the European Commission. In a press release, European brewers stress the "industry deplores misuse of its products" and announces that it will present a certain number of programmes to the conference aimed at remedying this.
Work will be geared to the following themes of abuse, concept, and different cultures, with Nicole Leymarie from the "Institut de Recherches Scientifiques sur les Boissons, France", and Enrico Tempesta, from the "Osservatorio permanente sui giovani e l'alcool", Italy. It will cover self-regulation of commercial communications, with addresses by Peter Michell, former Guinness Director (who will mainly speak of the influence of advertising), Jorge Hinojosa, Secretary General of the Spanish Consumers' Union (who will explain the experience of the Self-Regulation Code used by Spanish brewers since 1995), and Helmut Wagner, from the Amsterdam Group (who will also speak of the results of the different codes of self-regulation). Themes will include educational campaigns and material, with Stirpa Rinne (Finland), Cathrine Andersson (Sweden) and Anett Wiingaard (Denmark); as well as minimising anti-social behaviour, with Mieke Schevelenbos, from the Belgian Institute on Road Safety, and Rob Eichholtz (Netherlands). (Enrolment: in Brussels. Tel.: 02 660 9402).