Spirits Europe
| Formation | 1993, rebrand 2012 |
|---|---|
| Type | Trade association |
| Legal status | International association without lucrative purpose |
| Purpose | To represent spirits companies in Europe |
| Location |
|
Region served | Europe |
Membership | Spirits producers |
Director General | Paul Skehan |
Main organ | General Assembly |
Staff | 7 |
| Website |
The spiritsEUROPE represents producers of spirits drinks[1] at the EU level.
Structure
Its members gather 32 national associations[2] that represent the industry in 26 countries, as well as several leading spirits producing companies:
- Bacardi-Martini [3]
- Moët Hennessy[4]
- Diageo[5]
- Beam Suntory[6]
- Davide Campari Milano[7]
- Pernod Ricard[8]
- Rémy Cointreau[9]
- Brown-Forman[10]
History and figures
The Brussels-based spiritsEUROPE was created in 2012 from the merger of the European Spirits Organisation- CEPS and The European Forum for Responsible Drinking (EFRD). Today, the EU spirits industry represents over €26 billion in EU sales; 1 million jobs in production & sales; €32 billion of tax contribution and is the EU’s largest agri-food exporter with €10 billion of exports.
Objectives
spiritsEUROPE's goals include:
- Promoting responsible consumption of alcoholic beverages (through prevention campaigns;[11] consumer information,[12] etc.).
- Encouraging the industry to adopt high level standards for marketing self-regulation (Industry Guidelines,[13] online training for marketing professionals[14])
- Guaranteeing appropriate legislative conditions at the EU level for the production, marketing, distribution and sale of spirits within the EU (EU Internal Market;[15] Spirits & Society[16])
- Ensuring that there is no discrimination between alcoholic beverages, including for taxation[17]
- Creating better market access for EU spirits outside the EU (External Trade[18])
- Informing people about the economic contribution of the spirit industry to the EU (Industry Statistics,[19] Ernst & Young data[20] Publications,[21] Factsheets[22]).
Alcohol abuse prevention
In 2005, a Charter on Responsible Alcohol Consumption was adopted.[23] The commitments set out include responsible drinking messages and codes of conduct on marketing of spirits drinks. EU spirits producers agreed to implement these commitments by the end of 2010.
Building on the experience of the 2005 Charter commitments spiritsEUROPE members adopted a new series of commitments in October 2010: Road Map 2015- responsible drinking.eu.[24] The Roadmap includes new spirits industry commitments on marketing self-regulation and promoting responsible drinking. As with the Charter, annual progress reports on implementation are published annually.[25]
Drinksinitiatives.eu, a database[26] of programmes to help reduce alcohol-related harm and aiming to allow best practice exchange between Member States was set up in 2010.
The database is divided into six sections:
- Underage drinking
- Drink-driving
- Consumer information
- Responsible service/selling
- Non-Commercial Alcohol
- Workplace.
spiritsEUROPE, together with forty other stakeholders, was a founding member of the European Commission's Alcohol and Health Forum.[27] The initiative was proposed by the European Commission as part of the EU strategy to support member states in reducing alcohol-related harm adopted in October 2006.[28]
References
- ↑ spirits.eu
- ↑ national member associations
- ↑ Barcardi
- ↑ LVMH
- ↑ Diageo
- ↑ Beam
- ↑ Campari
- ↑ Pernod Ricard
- ↑ Remy Cointreau
- ↑ Brown Forman
- ↑ Drinks Initiatives to reduce alcohol-related harm
- ↑ responsible drinking
- ↑ Industry Guidelines
- ↑ Online training for marketing professionals
- ↑ Internal Market
- ↑ Spirits & Society
- ↑ Taxation
- ↑ External Trade
- ↑ Spirits of Growth
- ↑ spirits contribution to the EU economy
- ↑ Publications
- ↑ Factsheets
- ↑ Charter 2005-2010
- ↑ Road Map 2015
- ↑ Road Map Implementation Report 2013
- ↑ Programmes
- ↑ Alcohol forum
- ↑ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2006/com2006_0625en01.pdf