European Sugar Industry committed to CSR
In February 2003 The European Sugar Industry launched a Code of Conduct on corporate social responsibility and thus became the first sector to agree on broad scale CSR minimum standards.
The European Sugar Industry recognises that corporate social responsibility is becoming an increasingly important part of daily business. As an industry, its companies are not only responsible for their products and services, but also for the conditions under which they are produced.
On 7 February 2003 the social partners of the European Sugar Industry, CEFS (Comité Européen des Fabricants de Sucre) and EFFAT(European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors), supported by the EU Commission, signed a joint code of conduct setting minimum standards on CSR in eight areas.
The code of conduct is the latest result of a constructive, ongoing dialogue on social issues between the social partners of the Sugar Industry. It reflects the commitment of the social partners to progressively develop and demonstrate the overall sustainability of the sugar industry.
"Our vision is to create added human and social value by incorporating corporate social responsibility into all our activities," says chairperson of the joint working group, Peter Rasmussen.
The European Sugar Industry is the first sector within the European Union to voluntarily agree on minimum CSR standards on a broad scale.
Eight areas covered
The European Sugar Industry has been dealing with many CSR issues for several years. The new code of conduct sets a number of minimum standards which all EU sugar companies voluntarily commit themselves to comply with. The eight areas mainly cover social aspects:
- Human rights
- Education and Training
- Health and Safety
- Relationship between Social Partners
- Fair Pay
- Working Conditions
- Restructuring
- Business Relations and Choice of Suppliers
However, respecting the standards in the Code of Conduct does not constitute a valid reason for reducing pre-existing higher standards.
Examples of good practice
"Our vision is to create added human and social value by incorporating Corporate Social Responsibility into all our activities."
The Code of Conduct includes an annex of examples of good practice. They cover all eight areas and have been gathered from sugar companies all over Europe to illustrate a positive social behaviour going beyond the minimum standards of the code of conduct.
The best practice examples are going to serve as a source of inspiration for companies in the spirit of continuous improvement and will be updated regularly. Any improvement will be assessed.
Implementation and evaluation
The code of conduct is the first step in an ongoing process. It will come into effect on 1 January 2004. The rest of 2003 is devoted to prepare for its implementation by providing adequate national and local structures.
"Our approach is based on dialogue with our social partners and we want to give companies time to implement CSR locally," says Peter Rasmussen. He expects that future issues in the stakeholder dialogue will include topics such as the EU enlargement.
Regular update and follow-up of the Code of Conduct will be jointly monitored and reported each year in the frame of the European Committee for Social Dialogue. The first report will be submitted in February 2004.
"We welcome that the Code of Conduct contains concrete proposals for implementation and regular evaluation," says Harald Wiedenhofer, Secretary General of EFFAT.
The European sugar industry
The European Sugar Industry is the 3rd largest producer in the world after Brazil and India. It provides a livelihood for some 335,000 European farms. Beet cultivation and process facilities are located in all 15 EU member states except Luxembourg which does not produce sugar. Other CEFS Member States are Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.
These factories support both directly and indirectly almost 300,000 jobs.
The Code of Conduct of the European Sugar Industry is a joint initiative between the Comité Européen des Fabricants de Sucre (CEFS), www.cefs.org, and the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors (EFFAT), www.effat.org. Contact CEFS or EFFAT for more information. The Code of Conduct, Examples of Best Practice and a factsheet on the European Sugar Industry are all available on their websites.
For more information, please contact:
CEFS:
Comité Européen des Fabricants de Sucre
info@cefs.org
+32 2 762 07 60
www.cefs.org
EFFAT:
European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism
Trade Unions
effat@effat.org
+32 2 218 77 30
www.effat.org
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