EuroCommerce asks for continued support to the Supply Chain Initiative. The Supply Chain Initiative (SCI), which aims to promote good practice in commercial relations along the food supply chain, today presented its first annual report at an event in the European Parliament.
EuroCommerce believes that the retail and wholesale industry has delivered on its commitment to the SCI, with many companies, large and small, signing up to the initiative and adopting concrete measures. Many of its member associations have also played a key role by establishing national platforms to dialogue. In several countries, farmers’ organisations are part of those platforms.
EuroCommerce Director-General Christian Verschueren, said, “We are convinced that voluntary implementation is the right way to go. The SCI allows common good practices to trickle down from Brussels to company boards and on, to buyers and sellers. It offers a fast, cost-efficient, and less adversarial mechanism to promote good practice as a basis for commercial relations and business continuity.”
The SCI will require time and a reasonable legal certainty and predictability to demonstrate its effectiveness. The retail and wholesale sector calls on the EU institutions to closely monitor developments and to refrain from making definitive conclusions while the scheme is still developing. This first Annual Report is a first milestone and a baseline measurement that will encourage further progress.
“We will continue to play a strong role in support of the SCI in the future. We strongly encourage associations and companies to continue to help building upon this momentum,” said Mr Verschueren. He also reiterated his earlier invitation to the European and national farmers’ organisations to join the initiative. “The SCI enjoys a high level of satisfaction. EuroCommerce regrets the absence of certain operators and encourages farmers to make full use of the mechanism in place before drawing negative conclusions.”
