E-newsletter CIAA č. 20 (14. 10. 2010)
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| Issue 20 - 14/10/2010 | |||
Editorial
The CIAA Congress will be held on 18 and 19 November 2010 at The Square Congress Centre in Brussels. The theme for this year’s event is: The European Food and Drink Industry’s Vision for 2020: People, Planet & Partnership Challenges and opportunities for a more competitive industry The Congress will comprise of three panel sessions and will conclude with a wrap-up session, addressing the following topics:
Our star line-up includes four European Commissioners at the event – a first for the CIAA Congress: • Commission Vice President, Antonio Tajani (Industry and Entrepreneurship); A host of internationally renowned high-level speakers are also confirmed, as well as an impressive number of senior industry representatives at CEO level. The Congress will be complemented by a dynamic exhibition area, which will showcase some of the latest activities of the agri-food industry and its partners related to this year’s Congress theme. The full list of speakers, exhibitors and latest updates in the programme can be found on the Congress website at: www.ciaacongress2010.eu. Registrations are open and we invite readers to sign up now. As November promises to be a busy period in central Brussels due to several Belgian Presidency events in the capital, readers are also encouraged to book their travel and accommodation well in advance. CIAA European Parliament Evening 2010 5 October 2010, European Parliament The CIAA Annual Reception 2010 in the European Parliament was once again a great success. The CIAA President, Jesús Serafín Pérez, opened the reception, introducing the theme for the evening ‘An Innovation Union for Europe’s food and drink industry’, and stressed how innovation enables industry to celebrate Europe’s food culture while remaining sustainable and competitive. CIAA was honoured to have Ms Mairead McGuinness MEP as host for the evening who called for a twin-track approach: “Europe needs innovation which is open and transparent, in parallel with ongoing open communication with consumers about emerging developments”. Jim Moseley, Managing Director in the UK and Ireland for General Mills, then encouraged attendees to visit the three industry Stands on ‘The future of nanotechnology and trust’, ’Bringing an innovative product to market’ and ‘Industry efforts in reformulation’. He concluded that “innovation keeps our industry fresh, dynamic and competitive, allowing us to respond to rapidly evolving consumer demands, and enabling us to grow and keep pace in a global marketplace”. Around 200 people attended the event, including approximately 40 key MEPs from different Member States and political groups, plus a further 20 MEP offices were represented, providing industry representatives with the opportunity to engage with key stakeholders. The CIAA President, Jesús Serafín Pérez, commented “I’m really pleased to see such a great turnout this year, the Annual Reception is going from strength to strength, building on the constructive relationship the CIAA and its members have long held with the Parliament”. Belgian Presidency Events Belgium currently holds the EU Presidency for the second half of 2010. The Presidency has announced an ambitious calendar of events, which seek to address many key CIAA priorities.
Knowledge Based Bio-Economy towards 2020 Conference The ‘Knowledge Based Bio-Economy towards 2020’ conference was organised by the Flemish Department of Economy, Science and Innovation in collaboration with the European Commission in Brussels on 13 and 14 September. CIAA Director General, Mella Frewen and Director General of Federalimentare and Vice-Chair of the ETP Board, Daniele Rossi, gave a presentation on ‘The Innovative Food Chain: A Food Industry Perspective’ during the session on Research and Innovation. The presentation addressed how innovation is the key challenge for the food and drink industry, highlighting the barriers to innovation especially for SMEs. Focus was also placed on how the Strategic Research Agenda of the ETP Food for Life[1] can contribute to the KBBE. The conference attracted more than 500 stakeholders from different countries, including research experts, policymakers, industry representatives and NGOs, who discussed the new ‘vision’ and action plan for the KBBE towards 2020. For further information on the Conference, please visit: http://www.kbbe2010.be/ For a competitive food supply chain in Europe Conference The Belgian Presidency, in conjunction with the European Commission, will host a conference ‘For a competitive food supply chain in Europe’ on 14 October. The conference will address the challenges facing the food industry, how these challenges can be tackled in the future, as well as underlining the importance of innovation for the sector and the impact of EU policies on the food supply chain. The conference will welcome the creation of the High Level Forum for a Better Functioning Food Supply Chain. This new entity builds on the multi-stakeholder High Level Group on the Agri-food industry, which, in 2009, presented 30 Recommendations to improve the competitiveness of the sector, as well as the Commission’s Communication on a ‘Better functioning food supply chain in Europe’.[2] Jesús Serafín Pérez, CIAA President, Laurent Freixe, CIAA Board Member and Executive Vice President at Nestlé, as well as CIAA Director General, Mella Frewen will speak on a variety of topics, including the importance of a holistic approach to policymaking. For further information on the Conference, please visit: Innovative approaches for chronic illnesses in public health and healthcare systems Conference On 19 and 20 October, the Belgian Presidency will hold a Ministerial Conference on ‘Innovative approaches for chronic illnesses in public health and healthcare systems’ to address the growing concern of chronic diseases among EU Members States. According to WHO Europe figures, chronic diseases represent 86% of mortality in the WHO European Region and have significant economic implications. The Conference aims to gather all relevant stakeholders to discuss this increasingly burdensome issue and share experiences and best practices. The two-day event will also highlight the need for coordinated care from a wide range of professionals, examine the role that innovation and new technologies can play in improving healthy lifestyles. CIAA’s Director General, Mella Frewen will give a keynote speech during the session on ‘Stakeholders commitment to tackle common risk factors in chronic diseases’. For further information on the Conference, please visit: International Symposium on Measuring Food Safety and comparing self-checking systems On 17 November, the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, in collaboration with the European Commission, will organise an International Symposium on ‘Measuring Food Safety and comparing self checking systems’. Within the scope of the Hygiene Package, the symposium will address how to measure food safety, and how food and feed business operators can be encouraged to implement reliable systems ensuring that their products are safe, therefore contributing to the improvement of the food safety. For further information on the Symposium, please visit: http://www.favv.be/selfcheckingsystems/ International Symposium on Nanotechnology in the Food Chain The Presidency and European Commission will also host an International Symposium on ‘Nanotechnology in the Food Chain’ on 24 November. Mike Knowles, Chair of CIAA Nanotechnology Expert Group, will provide a case study on food processing during the session on 'Applications of nanotechnology in the food chain'. The symposium will provide various stakeholders, including policymakers, industry and scientists, an occasion to discuss, interact and exchange knowledge and opinions on the current situation regarding the applications, opportunities and risks of nanotechnology in the food chain (‘from farm to fork’). For further information on the Symposium, please visit: http://www.favv.be/nanotechnology/ [2] http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication16061_en.pdf The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013 Agricultural raw materials are essential components to the European food and drink industry, which processes 70% of European agricultural production. Along with the farming sector, industry has a common interest in promoting a productive, competitive and sustainable European agriculture. Ahead of the publications of the Commission’s Communication on the CAP post-2013 in November, Ministers met for an Informal Farm Council meeting in September, with the aim to review the outcome of the recent public debate and to discuss possible changes to the CAP. CIAA proposed five key guiding principles to Ministers ahead of the September meeting, most notably:
The revised CAP should contribute to the sustainable development of European agriculture, providing a stable and attractive environment for industry operators, within the remit of the EU agriculture budget. European Food SCP Round Table adopts Guiding Principles One year after its launch, and following a public consultation, the European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Round Table (RT) announced the formal adoption of ‘The Guiding Principles on voluntary environmental assessment and communication of environmental information along the food chain, including to consumers’ in July. The document identifies 10 Guiding Principles that will support the development of a harmonised framework methodology for the environmental assessment of food and drink products along the entire food chain. This development marks an important step forward in the work undertaken by the RT, which has progressed according to the timeframe agreed a year ago by its members. CIAA is a founding member of the RT and plays an active role in the work undertaken by this new initiative. Along with other stakeholders in the food chain gathered in the Round Table, CIAA is committed to helping consumers and other partners along the food chain to make informed choices by providing them with accurate and understandable information on relevant product characteristics, including environmental performance, within the specified timeframe as set out in the RT’s deliverables. Speaking following the adoption of the 10 Guiding Principles at the RT Plenary meeting, Pascal Gréverath, Nestlé, Assistant Vice-President for Environmental Sustainability and Chair of the CIAA Environmental Sustainability Committee, commented: For more information on the SCP RT and to download a copy of the Guiding Principles, please visit: http://www.food-scp.eu/ Commission Recast of the Directive on Late Payments An increasing number of companies, especially SMEs, are experiencing massive strain in light of the current economic crisis. In order to combat the growing issue of late payments, the European Commission proposed a recast of the Directive on late payments (2000/35/EC) within the framework of the Small Business Act (SBA), which aims to strengthen the existing Directive. CIAA welcomed this proposal as an opportunity to effectively tackle one of the main problems faced by SMEs, making up 99% of the food and drink industry in Europe. In September, the Commission, Council and European Parliament reached an agreement within a trialogue meeting, putting forward a revised consolidated text to be voted on in the October Plenary in the European Parliament. CIAA welcomed this latest development, as it constitutes a major improvement to the initial proposal. The newly agreed text includes provisions for B2B (Business to business) relations, whereby payments between operators should be completed with two months, unless other special conditions are met. The revised text also opens the door by broadening the concept of unfair contractual clauses to include 'terms' and 'practices', which relate to payment terms in a contract. Nonetheless, CIAA considers that a wider approach to unfair contractual terms and practices, beyond payment terms, and applied to all aspects of commercial relations should have been envisaged within this Recast, in order to maximise its effectiveness. This would have contributed, for example, to the ongoing work at EU level on contractual relations in the food supply chain CIAA supports the extension of good contracting codes to cover all commercial relations, beyond the simple promotion of timely payments. This approach should contribute positively to ongoing discussions at EU level, which CIAA trusts will lead to a Europe-wide solution, involving applications and control methods on a national level. |
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